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nunyabhiznus · 4 years ago

Text

Pearls are not Jewels

Prologue

Chapter 1

Word Count: 10.9K

Warnings: Kidnapping, some cursing, some violence, mentions of sexual harassment (barely). Lmk if I missed anything.

A/N: Before we begin I want to point out some things about this story.

First, I know that Star Wars takes place “In a galaxy far, far away” but for the sake of wanting to write a cool, fun story for everyone, lets just assume that Earth is somewhere in the unknown regions.

Second, because I’m putting Earth in the unknown regions, no one there knows about eveything that’s been going on in the galaxy, and everyone in the galaxy knows very little about Earth. So basically, Earth is exactly the same as it is now except the star wars movies do not exist. Please let me know if this second point makes sense. If it doesnt, I’ll be glad to clear it up.

Third, this is my first Star Wars fic so I’ll be doing the best I can to keep the information as authentic as possible. Wookiepedia has become my best friend for this project.

Thank you!

Jules Taxo was on the run.

This was nothing new for her, though. At any given moment she was either being sought out by republic officials or hunted down by someone who wanted revenge. But she was quick, smart, and deadly so no one could ever catch up to her; an ability that she prides herself in and one she hopes will get her out of her current situation.

But as she looks out the window through curtains barely parted enough to view the street, she couldn’t help but feel like this time things were different. She had never been chased down by someone this important before. If she wants to get out of this situation alive, she’ll need every part of her plan to work perfectly.

“Are you sure you want to go through with the procedure?”

The doctors question pulls her away from the window, her hand dropping the curtains making the room slightly darker than it was before.

When she faces him, the Rodian sinks into his chair with a fear she knew was not brought on by the change in lighting.

Normally, Jules would’ve basked in the power trip that her reputation usually took her on, but she knew she was running out of time. Those who were after her would eventually track her to this planet, so she needs to finish what she came here to do and keep moving.

Digging her hand into her pocket, she threw the doctor a small pouch. Its contents ringing throughout the small room in the universal language of greed.

“Your payment,” she states, answering his question. “There are extra credits in the bag for your continued discretion.”

Not that she actually expects it. There was no doubt in her mind that someone with more credits would come along and convince him to release the information. In fact, she was counting on him to eventually give her up for her plan to fully function.

The doctor peers inside the pouch and seeming satisfied, turns around to activate the nurse droid that would assist him during the procedure.

He clears his throat, facing her again, “What would you like to have done?”

Jules takes out a disk from her pocket and activates a hologram.

“Can your nano droids make me look like her?”

“The complete facial transformation will render you identical,” he says observing the woman in the hologram with curiosity. “I should advise you that it’s a painful process.”

“Just do it,” She orders and doesn’t wait to be told before laying down on the examination table.

With a sigh, the doctor nods to the nurse droid who holds Jules down by the shoulders, pressing her down on the table.

If this worked, she thought with a sick smile forming on her face, they’d never find her.

A small hiss escapes her lips as the doctor inserts a needle into her neck. At first, she felt nothing, but after a few seconds she began thrashing around the table as the nano droids began to reconstruct her face one fracture at a time. The hold of the nurse droid was the only thing that kept her on the table as she yelled in pain. And then it was over just as soon as it began.

Her chest heaved up and down as the pain slowly crept away until all she was left with was a dull headache. The doctor slowly hands her a mirror as she sits up and looks at the unfamiliar face staring back at her.

The smirk she saw reflected was foreign, belonging to the woman in the hologram. Jules turns her new face side to side and admires the work.

“Who is she?” The doctor asks, slowly backing away now that his usefulness is over.

“Oh nobody,” she says coyly. “Just some dead girl from the planet Earth.”

With those details carefully shared, Jules leaves the doctor to his credits as she wears her new identity through the busy streets.

Confident that her disguise works, and no one was following her, she returns to her ship and punches in the coordinates to her next location. The last phase of her plan.

Jules Taxo was heading for Earth.

***

When you can’t open your eyes as soon as you wake up, the first thing you assume is that you’re dead. That the never ending black you see is a dreary afterlife and not your heavy eyelids.

As feeling starts to come back to your limbs and you’re slowly able to make out blurry shapes in front of you, you realize that you are still very much alive. Your racing heart is a clear indication of that.

Your legs give out as soon as you try to stand and what little you can make out of the room starts to spin. You rest your hand on your chest, letting your fingers grasp at the necklace hanging around your neck. A subconscious habit you had when you were nervous. It’s then that you realize that your hands are tied together.

Well, not tied, you sluggishly observe. More like... handcuffed?

Adrenaline heightens your numbed senses instantly and you realize that you’re in the corner of a dark room. The wall opposite of where you’re sitting has a bunch of strange panels and buttons that give off faint lights, which fail miserably at lighting up the space. Listening closely, you could hear the faint hum of machinery surrounding you. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say it looked like the inside of a spaceship from a sci-fi movie.

How did this happen? Taking in deep breaths, you try and piece together the events prior to waking up wherever you were.

The day had started off just like every other weekday.

You remember pulling into your jobs parking lot. You were late. Still, you felt you could turn the day around as long as no one noticed you coming in. Ironically enough, you’re wishing for the exact opposite of that right now. Surely somebody had to be wondering where you were. Your thoughts immediately went to your family as you fiddled with the pearl around your neck. What would they think happened to you?

You remember barely getting out of your car when someone grabbed you from behind, holding a hand over your mouth to prevent you from screaming.

You remember feeling a shock throughout your body. Was it a shock? Stunned was a better word to describe what you felt - like you could no longer control your limbs as your vision went black.

And then you were waking up.

The sound of voices bring your thoughts to the present. You can’t hear the conversation, only a muffled dialogue, but you can tell that whoever is talking is just beyond the walls of the room. Although you already know you’re wrong, you hope that help will come through those doors when they open anyways.

There’s a beeping sound coming from the other side and you know that your captors, or saviors (you’re trying to be optimistic), will walk in any second.

Despite the fear you’ve felt since you woke up, you try to put on a brave face, but as soon as the door slides open the light that floods in the room makes your face scrunch up instead.

So much for brave, you think as you blink your eyes a couple of times to get them adjusted to the brightness.

Two men you’ve never seen before were now standing in front of you. You gasp as you take in their appearance that was unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

They looked like human men if humans had blue skin and white hair. Intricate black tattoos covered every exposed piece of skin, wrapping around their necks and reaching to the ends of their fingertips. Their massive stature did not escape your notice either. Both men were easily at least six feet tall (or taller) and heavily built. They wore all black, but the one on the right was wearing what looked like a long-sleeved leather jacket, while the one on the left wore a vest that allowed you to see more of the tattoos on his arms. Both men were also staring at you with sick grins.

You were scared before but now you were terrified. What the hell was going on?

With the initial shock already wearing off, you realize that staring at them would get you nowhere. Scrambling to stand up, you did your best to not look as intimidated as you felt.

“Where am I?” You ask, hating how small you sound.

The one wearing the leather jacket took a step forward and you instinctively took a step back. Your back met with the wall and you jump at the contact. Leather Jacket seemed pleased with knowing you were scared of him.

“You got caught, Jules,” he sneers, his voice a deep sound that cut through the room.

Wait a minute.

“Jules?” You question, suddenly more confused than afraid. “My name’s not Jules.”

“Nice try, doll face, but it’s going to take a lot more than a facial reconstruction to hide from Black Sun,” scoffs the one in the vest.

You blink back with eyebrows raised. Doll face?

“Look,” you start, getting closer to them with newfound courage. Where it came from, you had no clue, but you weren’t about to question it. “You‘ve got the wrong person. You have to let me go!”

“Your little trick isn’t going to work on us,” Vest snaps. “I’ll admit, going to a planet in the unknown regions was impressive, but you’re losing your touch.”

Leather Jacket smirked down at you and you narrow your eyes at him.

“Yeah, you were too easy to find,” he shoves your shoulder, effortlessly pushing you back.

“Don’t touch me!” You hiss.

This entire ordeal was starting to chip away at your patience.

“I have no idea what you two are talking about,” you say through gritted teeth. “Let. Me. Go.”

Neither of them responds, just continue to look down on you with smug expressions. Scoffing, you start to make your way to the door anyways, frustrated in your lack of understanding, but they block your path.

Standing side by side, the two blue men left no way to get through.

“You’re staying right here.”

A command, you notice. And a threat. Especially when Leather Jacket turns to Vest and pulls him to the side of the room, leaving the doorway exposed. He clearly wasn’t worried about you making a run for it. And he was right. As taunting an idea as it was, you weren’t dumb enough to try it. They’d catch you before you got one foot out the door. Besides, your hands were still cuffed.

No. If you wanted to escape, you’d have to do it differently.

“Call L-1 over here to watch her while we’re out,” you hear him say before they both walk out of the room, the door sliding shut behind them. Once again, the room was dark.

You ran to the door then. The two men were still talking, so you put your ear to it to try and hear them better.

“L-1!” Called out Vest. Even though he yelled, you could still barely hear through the steel door. You press your ear harder against it hoping your lack of visuals will encourage your ears to hear better.

“We’re going out while the ship refuels to get supplies. Stay with the bounty, and don’t let her leave the ship. We’ll be back in a few hours.”

There was a response, but you couldn’t make it out, either because of the steel barrier or because of their tone of voice. Your brows furrowed. Yet another thing to not understand.

The sound of heavy steps were getting closer to the door and you back away just in time for the door to slide open again.

At first you think the silhouetted figure is another man, but as the light settles around the room again you stood mouth gaping at another unfamiliar sight. It isn’t a man at all, more a machine. A robot?

What the hell was happening?

The robot advances passed the door frame and you quickly back up until you feel the wall pressed behind you, wanting to put as much space between you and it. The way it moved was not slow and clunky like you always imagined a robot would move. This one reminded you of those creepy Claymation movies where everything was always just slightly off. When the robot stops in the middle of the room you let out a shaky breath. Relief filling your senses.

You can’t bring yourself to look away from the robot, afraid that if you did for even a second it would start going towards you again. Its appearance is unnerving. The thing itself was not much taller than you and it was noticeable how some of its dull yellow paint was chipping off its metal exterior. It’s the headpiece that keeps you locked in place. Through a dark opening in its head, two orange, lifeless lights stare back at you.

Your thoughts were racing almost as fast as your heart. “What are you?”

“I am L-1,” it says in a low robotic voice.

“A general service droid,” it adds for clarification.

“Not a guard or a bounty hunter droid as they seem to think.”

Was that sarcasm?

“But that doesn’t mean you can try anything, Ms. Taxo.” L-1 brought up a small gun and you flinch. “I can still stun you with my blaster.”

A dangerous idea starts to form in your head. Now that the two men were gone, you figure that you’d have a better chance at escaping with only the droid guarding you. L-1 said it himself, he wasn’t even a guard droid. Time to see if you could outsmart a machine.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” you blurt out trying to look at L-1’s face instead of the gun (or did he call it a blaster?) he kept pointed at you.

“That is none of my concern,” L-1 responds sharply.

“Well,” you start to say, forcing yourself to be more confident. “If I don’t go to the bathroom soon, I’ll end up soiling myself.” You sigh dramatically and add a shrug for good measure.

“I don’t think they’ll be too happy to see that when they come back.”

“No... They won’t,” L-1 agrees, though you could hear it was quite forced. You need to say more.

“And they’d blame you for the mess,” you quickly add. “Might even shut you down.” You hope that was a thing that happened to robots and not just something you pulled out of your ass.

“Maker! You’re right!” L-1 exclaims. “I’ll be deactivated because of you!”

L-1 quickly lowers the blaster gun and grabs your cuffs, all but dragging you out of the room by them.

“There’s a lavatory on board the ship,” he says while you struggle to keep up with his quick strides. “I’ll never understand you organics! How many bodily functions do you even need? It’s not very efficient at all!”

When you reach another set of doors, L-1 let go of your cuffs and points the blaster gun at you again.

“Get your business done quickly,” he orders. “We have to return to the other room.”

You try your best to make an innocent face as you hold up your cuffed hands.

“I can’t go to the bathroom with these things on.”

“I cannot remove them,” he states. “You will try and escape if I do.”

“I can’t!” You point out. “You’re guarding the door. Plus, you have a blaster, and I don’t. You can just take these cuffs off, I can go to the bathroom, and then put them back on when I’m done.”

His silence was eerie, emphasizing the fact that you have no way of knowing what was going on behind the metal exterior. Did he realize what you were doing?

“After that, we’ll walk back to the room and it’ll be like none of this ever happened.”

L-1 lowers the blaster again and uncuffs your wrists. Yes! You try your best to hide your excitement. The door to the bathroom slid open and closes again once you step inside.

“Don’t take too long!” L-1 orders through the door.

“I won’t!” You respond, rubbing your wrists where the cuffs had irritated your skin.

Okay . . . Now what?

You take a second you don’t have to process everything that’s happened. The pieces of information you have don’t make any sense to you but they’re all you have to go on. So far, you are certain of three things:

First, everyone thought you were some lady named Jules Taxo.

You gather she is not very popular. Vest had referred to you as a bounty before. You got a sick feeling in your stomach. They want to sell you? Or rather, sell Jules but they thought she was you? You were getting a headache trying to wrap your brain around the situation you were in.

Second, you think you were abducted by aliens.

The idea sounds farfetched, even to you, but those guys were blue. BLUE! And they mentioned something about Jules going to a different planet - was she also an alien? Anyways, there was also the way that L-1 called your location a ship. Even with your lack of understanding you realize this place looks more technologically advanced than anything you’d ever seen on Earth.

And third, robots were real. (You remember it called itself a droid)

And not very smart. And the one you just met was waiting for you outside the door.

Right. Back to business.

You couldn’t bust through the door and hope to fight against the droid. Even without the restriction of your cuffs, it had a gun. There goes plan A.

Okay, plan B. Was there another door? You frantically start to look around. There’s nothing else in the room except a strange looking tube seat you assume is the toilet. No other doors.

But there is a vent above you. Plan C! And it looks large enough for you to fit through. You stand on the tube seat and do your best to move the railings without making any noise. You thank God when you see it isn’t bolted to the ceiling and easily slides off. You’ll have to jump in order to create enough of a boost to hoist yourself up. Bending your knees, you get a feel for the movement.

Okay. You took a deep breath. 3 . . . 2 . . .

“Are you almost done?!” L-1’s annoyed voice yells through the door.

You nearly lose your balance on the seat as you curse, and your hands fly out to steady yourself with the walls. You almost forgot about the droid.

“Just another minute!” You respond, keeping your voice as calm as possible. “I can’t go if you keep pressuring me!”

You don’t try to listen for his response, but you know he mumbled something. Forgetting the countdown, the renewed sense of urgency gives you all the preparation you need to jump up and reach for the vent. Although it’s not much, you use all your upper body strength to haul yourself up to the vent system. Once your torso is inside, you shimmy the rest of your body in as well.

Looking ahead, the ships vent system looks like a small tunnel. You quickly start to crawl through the vent, knowing that you wouldn’t be able to keep up your trick the next time L-1 said something. Finding a way out was your main objective as you navigate through the maze of vents. You have no idea where you are going but you try your best keep quiet and increase the distance between you and the droid.

In one of your turns, you see the vents getting more illuminated. Following the light, you nearly start crying when you see the end of the vent. Through the railing, you could see that it led outside. Kicking the vent out, you throw yourself out of the ship.

When you land on the ground, the impact on your knees was felt strongly and you grit your teeth in pain. You gasp at your surroundings, forgetting all about your discomfort. Spaceships of varying sizes were all around, lined up in neat stations where they were plugged in to large towers.

You can sight see later! Run!

Shaking your head, you start to run for it in the opposite direction of the ship you just escaped from. Something in the back of your mind was reminding you that you have no clue where you are, or where you’re going, but all you care about is getting as far away from that ship as possible. You never want to see it again.

You run until your lungs burn and your legs feel like jelly. The ship station was far behind you now but since you could still see it in the distance, it was still too close for comfort. Ahead of you, strange clay brown buildings stand against the surrounding dessert terrain. There’s nowhere else to go so you ignore your screaming legs and keep running towards it.

Two of the large clay buildings make a sort of entrance gate to a city bustling with movement behind them. You thought you were incapable of being surprised anymore, yet you were proved wrong when you stumble into the middle of an active marketplace. You stand frozen in the middle of the street, watching with wide eyes the many booths and stands around you.

You were baffled by the number of new things you were seeing. The stands were selling strange objects and foods you couldn’t begin to describe. All around you strange creatures, each one more different than the last, visited the booths and exchanged goods. You even saw more droids walking among them.

Too astonished to even notice, you are unaware of how in the way you are of everything and how much you stick out like a sore thumb. Every so often, an alien bumps into you and glares. Probably wondering why, you, a lone woman in strange clothes, stopped to stand in the middle of a busy street. It wasn’t until one of them had begun to yell at you in a language you didn’t understand that you snap out of it.

You shake your head and stutter out an apology before quickly moving around him and further down the marketplace. It seemed to go on for miles as unfamiliar sights, sounds, and smells add to your confusion. Everything around you blurs together in a mess of too many new experiences. Stand vendors would go up to you and shove products in your face, trying to convince you to buy them, and the crowds would push you further along the market before you even had a chance to decline. It was exhausting and disorienting.

When you finally stagger to the end of the market, forcing all of its commotion behind you, you were able to round the corner of a nearby building into an abandoned alleyway. Leaning against its wall, you catch your breath and struggle to even out your frantic breathing.

There was no time to freak out. You remind yourself that there are still people after you. No. After Jules.

With no bearings and nothing but the clothes on your back, you figure that if you let yourself freak out now, you’d never make it.

Somehow, you’d have to get as far away from them as possible. And possibly even harder, find a way back home

***

Din Djarin had never gotten along with Jules Taxo.

He thought her extremely unpleasant, a trait most bounty hunters typically shared. She was rude. Undisciplined. Dishonest. Cunning and smart as a whip, he'll admit, but dangerous.

Jules had been one of the many hunters who had tried to take the kid away from him when he first found him on Arvala-7. She put up an impressive fight, and in the end managed to escape alive. Something that could not be said for the majority of those he encountered.

So, when Greef Karga told him of the large bounty on her head, he did not hesitate to accept it. He had a score to settle. Not only for himself, but for Grogu.

"Black Sun is offering a heavy sum for bringing her in alive," he tells him.

Beside him, Grogu takes sips from a soup bowl and watches the two men curiously.

Karga points at him, "You sure you want to bring the kid with you on this one? Taxo won't play fair if she sees him. Why not leave him here with us? He could stay at the school."

"The kid goes wherever I go," Din responds, leaving to room for discussion. After everything that's happened, the only place he felt Grogu was safe was at his side.

Nodding in understanding, Karga leads the conversation back to business.

"There's no puck," he explains. "Do you still want it?"

Din nods, "What do I have to go on?"

"A last known location and a picture," Karga says as he began to dig through his jacket pocket. "This is what I know. Taxo ran off to some planet in the unknown regions to escape Black Sun. There, she was caught and taken to Klatooine where she escaped them a few days ago. That's where she was last reported."

"Taxo got caught?" Din was unable to hide his surprise. Everyone in the galaxy who knew of Jules's reputation would've had a hard time believing it. "By who?"

Karga sighs, "The Gotros brothers."

"Them?!" They couldn't catch a bantha if it were right in front of them. "How?"

"Ah!" the magistrate exclaims, pulling a disk out of his pocket. "Here it is!"

When he set it on the table, a holographic image shows a picture of a woman he has never seen before. And he was sure he'd remember a face like hers. The sound of Grogu's coos pulls his eyes away from the hologram, instead focusing on how his small, green hands stretch out to reach for the image. He likes the look of her too.

"She's beautiful, right?" Karga asks rhetorically, not giving him time to answer before continuing. "This is Jules' new face. The doctor who did the reconstruction told the Gotros brothers where she was headed. I guess she didn't count on his loose lips."

He scolds himself for getting momentarily distracted with Jules' reconstruction. Din extends his arm towards Grogu when he hears him coo again, and gently pulls his hands away from the hologram. He forces himself to find a flaw in her picture, but he can’t find any. Instead, resolving to compare her to the way that some flowers were poisonous despite their alluring appearance.

"Why did they take her to Klatooine?" he asks Karga.

"They stopped there to refuel," he laughs. "Apparently, they left her alone with a droid and that's how she escaped."

"That's it?"

"That's all I've got. Look Mando, a lot of bounty hunters are going to be after her when they catch wind of how much Black Sun will pay for her. I suggest you leave as soon as possible before she finds her way off that desert rock."

Din nods, setting Grogu back in his floating pram.

"Thank you," he tells his friend, before walking away and towards the Razor Crest.

"Looks like we're headed to Klatooine, kid."

***

Two days have gone by since you escaped the ship.

Two of the most frustrating days you've ever experienced in your entire life. For the remainder of your first day there, you spent the entire time in the alleyway. Too afraid to go out in the open in case they saw you. You barely slept that night either.

Basic survival instinct and years of living as a woman on Earth nagged at your decision to remain in a secluded space, alone in the dark. You couldn't be bothered, though, as exhaustion crept through your bones. You silently prayed for a break which you received. No one came into the alleyway that night.

The following day, you decided to carefully explore the city you were in. Turns out, your curiosity for the alien planet overpowered your fear. Being the fast learner that you were, two things became abundantly clear:

First, there was an obvious language barrier.

You could not read a single thing on this planet. No matter where you went, the written language was made up of strange symbols that were unfamiliar to you. Thankfully, some of the inhabitants spoke English, which you discovered they called ‘basic', so at least you weren't completely lost.

Second, you were broke.

Their monetary system made no sense to you. ‘Credits’, as they were called, were something you did not have. Something that became abundantly clear the longer you went without food.

In spite of those things, you found yourself marveling at all of the new sights around you – the same ones that had sent you spiraling the day before. You felt alive walking through the foreign city as each step presented an opportunity to learn something else about the strange planet. Everything around you, from the alien creatures to the unfamiliar music to the clothing everyone wore, reminded you of how different it was from Earth. Different, but still beautiful.

The constant threat of being found remained in the back of your mind at all times as you wove through the unfamiliar streets, careful not to stray too far from the market. However, you must've been doing something right because you had yet to run into the blue men again. It made you wonder if they were either really bad at hunting people, or if you were just naturally good at evading your captors. You doubted it was the latter.

Halfway through that day, you realized that hiding your face would be the best course of action. You needed a face covering and had to find a way to get one without any money.

The day the blue men captured you on Earth, the weather channel had forecasted a cold front, so you left your apartment wearing a coat. One you were currently carrying around on the hot planet you were wandering through. It was your favorite one.

You sighed as you walked up to a market vendor who sold a variety of products.

"Hello?" you greeted, hoping the man spoke the only language you understood. Although he didn’t say anything, he looked up at you when you spoke, so you took that as a sign to keep going.

"I don't have any money," you started. God, you sounded pathetic. "But I have this coat. Would I be able to trade it for anything here that would cover my face?"

The man held out his hand for the coat and you handed it to him. He immediately held it up and began inspecting its quality. You furrowed your brows. Even with everything you've been through, the coat was still a hell of a lot cleaner than anything else he was selling. You decided not to voice that thought, though. Instead, choosing to bite your tongue.

"This coat can't get you any of the helmets,"' he said in a gruff voice. "But I can trade you a cloak for it. It has a large hood."

You reluctantly nodded and he handed you a black cloak. As you were putting it on, he pointed at your necklace.

"That's a fine piece of jewelry you got there. If you give it to me, I'll throw in the best helmet I've got."

He held up a strange looking device for you to see.

"It's an Ubese raider helmet," he began to explain. "Not only does it hide your face, but the speech scrambler can mask your voice."

You looked at the helmet longingly. That thing was exactly what you needed. Your fingers danced around the pearl above your heart. Suddenly, it weighed a thousand pounds.

It was the only real reminder you had of your family back on Earth. If you ended up never seeing them again, this would be all you had left of them.

"No, thank you," you said, shaking your head. "It's not for sale."

Leaving it at that, you threw up the hood and kept walking. The cloak would have to do.

That night you couldn't sleep either, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. Curled up in the corner of the alleyway, your new cloak blending you into the night, your constant hunger pains kept you up. You hadn't eaten anything in two days, and it was starting to show.

Now, you stumble around the city, hoping to maybe trade off your shoes for a bite of anything to eat - You were that desperate, when you hear something strange coming from behind a building nearby. Carefully, you creep over to investigate, a gut feeling telling you that finding out would be better than ignoring it.

When you round the corner, you see a tall burley man cornering an alien woman. From the looks if it, she was trying to shove him off, but he was too strong for her.

You desperately look around, trying to find a way to help her. Your gaze lands on a large metal pipe on the ground and you quickly grab it.

You huff when the weight of it settles in your hand. This thing weighs a ton! Even at your most physically fit, you doubted you’d be able to carry it with ease. And you weren't exactly the picture of health at the moment.

You ignore that thought, focusing on helping the alien woman. Silently, you get behind the man. With his back to you, and his mind preoccupied with the woman, he hadn't heard you come closer. With as much strength as you can muster, you raise the metal pipe and swing it at the man’s head. It collides and the sick sound of bone crunching rings through the air as he falls to the floor. Unconscious or dead, it doesn't really matter to you.

The alien woman gasps and keeps staring back and forth between you, the unconscious man, and the metal pipe in your hand.

Your vision starts to get spotty. Clearly, you used up the little energy you had in you on this little rescue mission.

"You're welcome," was all you managed to slur out before the pipe fell out of your grip and you fell to the ground as well. Unconscious or dead, you didn’t really know.

***

When you wake up, you figure that you're dead.

That the soft light coming in is heaven and you're laying on a cloud.

"You're awake," you hear a woman��s' voice say somewhere near you.

As you fully regain consciousness, you find out with great disappointment that the cloud you were on was actually a bed and the light was coming from a nearby window. Your eyes land on the woman in front of you, the same one from before, who was sitting at the edge of your bed with a blaster pointed at you. She was a species that you observed was one of the more human-like. Her skin was a light pink color, and instead of hair, she had two long appendages that sat on the top of her head. Sitting up, you held your hands up in surrender, hoping to explain yourself but she beat you to it.

"You're Jules Taxo," she spit out. Oh, great! This again?

You start to shake your head, "N-No, no, you don't -"

"Don't bother denying it," she interrupts. "I saw your wanted hologram in the cantina."

You open your mouth to speak again but she cuts you off this time too.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to turn you in," she says lowering her gun. "You helped me out back there, so I owe you one, but I don't want any of your trouble."

You let out a breath of relief, "Thank you."

"You can stay here for the night," she adds. "I can give you some food too, you look like you haven't eaten in days." Your mouth waters at the sound of a meal.

"But you'll need to leave in the morning, Jules. Like I said, I don’t want trouble."

"Thank you so much," you say with a heavy sigh. "I appreciate everything you're doing for me, believe me, I do. But I am not Jules Taxo, so please don't call me that."

"What do you mean?" she questions so you explain your situation to her, thankful to finally have someone to talk to about it.

She listens carefully to all you have to say. Who you really were, how you were caught, and how you ended up wandering alone on a planet you never knew existed. You honestly couldn’t tell if she believed you or not, but it felt good to have someone listen to you after days of being on your own.

"You don't have to worry, I'll be out in the morning," you add when you’re done. "I just have no idea what to do after that."

"You need to find a pilot to take you to one of the Inner Rim planets," she says with a forlorn expression. "New republic officers will be able to help you better there."

"So, you believe me?" you ask, feeling hope sprout in your chest.

"I do," she nods, smiling at you. "My name is Krin, by the way."

"Thank you, Krin."

"You’re welcome, but I'm not the ones you have you convince."

"Right," you say, sitting up straighter. "So how do I get a pilot?"

"With credits," she sighs. "More than either of us have. Trust me, I've been saving up to move to the inner rim for years and am not even close to saving up for what these crooks around here will charge you for taking you there."

"I don't have any credits," you mumble more to yourself than to her.

The two of you drop the conversation there, choosing to eat dinner together instead. You follow her to the kitchen where Krin offers you a green soup that you graciously scarf down. It was bland, and didn't taste like much but in that moment, it became your favorite food.

After dinner, Krin told you about her life. How she spent her whole life on Klatooine (the planet you were on), and how her dream was to move to one of the inner rim planets and be a professional dancer. She told you about the war and the Empire, and how they brought destruction across the galaxy.

It amazed you to find out these things. So much was happening outside of Earth that nobody even knew about. Wars were waged, entire planets were being destroyed, millions of people died. And nobody knew about it.

"What do you know about Jules?" Krin asks you, bringing you back to the conversation at hand.

"Nothing. Except that everyone hates her, apparently."

"She's a famous bounty hunter," she told you. "Someone who hunts down people for money. Those guys are always loaded with credits."

Instantly her eyes lit up with an understanding that you did not share. You raise an eyebrow at her.

"I have an idea for how to get us a pilot!" Krin all but shouts at you.

"How? You said we couldn't afford one."

"But Jules can!" She looks at you expectantly, but you still do not understand.

"You said she stole your face, right? Well, automated bank teller machines work through facial recognition, and I'm willing to bet she updated her security before she went into hiding. If you used one of those machines, you'd have access to all of her credits. We could use them to get off world!"

You could barely believe it. "Would that actually work?"

"As long as she updated the security to her new face - your face, it should," she says. "The only problem is that it would probably also alert those who are looking for you."

"So, if we wanted to do this, it would have to be quick," you confirm.

"Yes."

"Okay," you declare. "We'll go tomorrow."

***

The last thing he expected from this job was for it to be easy.

Din expected a challenge. With no tracking fob and only a location from a few days ago to go on, he assumed it would take him at least a couple of days to find which part of Klatooine she was on. His confusion could not have been more evident when he got a signal from a specific pinpoint location where she used facial recognition to extract credits.

He now had her exact coordinates. If fact, any bounty hunter in the system looking for her would have them now too. Was she trying to attract attention to herself? If he didn’t know any better, he’d say she was being sloppy on purpose.

Landing the Crest outside of the city that contained her coordinates, he wastes no time in navigating through the busy streets towards a bar. Everyone in his line of work knew that if you ever needed information on something illegal, a bar was the best place to go to.

He keeps Grogu’s pram open while walking through the bustling market, careful to not let anyone steal what he worked so hard to keep, but at the same time glad to see the child beam at the exciting, new surroundings. As he moves down the street, everyone turns their heads to stare at him, clearly not used to seeing a Mandalorian. If he got too close, they would back away, unintentionally clearing a path for him. This was nothing new for him. In the beginning, the stares would make him feel raw and exposed despite the piles of beskar protecting him. Now, they were like grains of sand in the wind. Only a mild inconvenience to him.

When he reaches the bar, all activity stops for a moment. Again, he was the center of attention.

He stands still until everyone inside decides they had their fill of his image, turning back to their drinks and conversations. Din walks over to the bartender.

"What will you having?" the man asks him. As if he could accept.

"Information," he chose, and slid the bartender a couple of credits.

"What do you know about Jules Taxo," Din asks showing the man her holographic picture. He ignores the happy noise the child makes at it as he continues his questioning. "My sources say she's somewhere on this planet."

"I heard rumors she was on Klatooine," he says rubbing his chin. "But I've never seen her walk in here." he points to the picture.

"Is that all you know?" Din already knew this answer.

"For the amount of credits you just gave me? Yes."

His jaw clenches as he hands the man more credits.

"Ah! I remember now," he continues, pocketing his win. "This morning a lady wearing a Ubese raider helmet, which she was very adamant on keeping on, paid a local pilot an absurd amount of credits to take her and her Twi'lek friend off world."

"Do you know where they went?" Din presses, already tired of haggling for information.

"They wanted to get to the inner rim. The pilot could only take them as far as Pasaana, but they agreed to go anyways. That's all I know."

Din mulls over the information in his mind as the bartender left to go tend to the other customers. What would a bounty hunter like Jules want in the inner rim? Did she think she could hide better there? His instincts told him that there was something off about the whole situation, but he chose to ignore the feeling as he made his way back to the Razor Crest.

He would capture Jules in Pasaana.

***

You and Krin moved fast. By the end of the day, you two had already made it off world and were on your way to Pasaana.

She had been right about the credits, and after obtaining them, the first thing you did was go back to the vendor who you got your cloak from and properly paid for the helmet he showed you that day. Since then, you hadn’t taken it off and while it wasn’t the most comfortable accessory you’d ever worn, you preferred it to feeling so exposed. The helmet had more features than you knew what to do with, all of which would have been useful for whatever raiding it was designed for, but you only cared for the voice scrambler.

Krin also convinced you to buy some blasters for your protection. Even though you had no idea how to use it, you felt better knowing you had a for-emergencies-only weapon strapped to your hip. Hopefully, you’d never have to use it.

The trip to Pasaana had been nerve wrecking. The first time you flew through space you had been unconscious, so you didn’t really count it. This time, you’re fully aware of every little movement and drop in altitude as your hands grip your seat with such a force that it turns your knuckles white. It reminds you of being on an airplane and how you were never one for air travel to begin with. Even after the ship stops shaking as it enters hyperspace (a concept you could barely wrap your head around), and everyone was allowed to roam around you still stay glued to your seat.

“You must not have much space travel on Earth, huh,” Krin teases.

“We don’t have any,” you say, trying to keep your voice level in spite of the helmet’s delivery of your voice.

“That thing makes you sound like a broken droid.”

She wasn’t wrong. The scrambler on the helmet dropped your voice by a couple of octaves and made the sound coarse and choppy.

Much to Krin’s disappointment, Pasaana was another desert planet. You on the other hand can’t find a reason to complain. How many people back home get to go to different planets? None! That thought makes you feel incredibly small.

Besides, Pasaana serves its purpose just fine. It got you away from Klatooine, which was where everyone thought Jules was going to be.

You only wish you could help more. Krin does all the work for both of you, seeing as she knows the languages and monetary system, and you can barely keep her in your line of sight as the new surroundings tempt you into distraction. You cringe at your position, lagging behind like a shadow and hovering around her conversation with the next group of pilots she found to take you to an inner rim planet. You feel like you’re watching a foreign movie without subtitles with enough context to follow the plot but not enough understanding to catch the finer details. When she nods at you, though, you immediately know what she wants, not needing to know the language to understand that nothing is done for free. So, you dig the pouch of Jules’ credits out of your pocket and set it down in front of her where she carefully pulls out the right amount and promptly gives it back to you for safekeeping.

They told Krin to meet them in the shipyard tomorrow morning, until then, you had the entire rest of the day to yourselves.

You both agree on finding an inn to spend the night in and seeing as you have so much time on your hands, you see no harm in ignoring the looming threat of the situation to go spend time in the city before you do. While Klatooine’s arid streets had been full of impatient characters and hard stares, Pasaana’s warm sand welcomes you both with a peaceful energy.

Its markets are different – calmer and more relaxed, giving anyone who walked through them the opportunity to enjoy themselves. You and Krin take advantage of this change of pace, making stops at every stand to see what each have to offer.

“I’m starving!” she says, pointing somewhere down the street. “That vendor’s selling something that smells amazing! Let’s go!”

Once there, she buys something (which to you, looks an awful lot like a charred squirrel) that’s skewered on a stick. You opt for a fruit instead, its shape roughly resembling a pare with a dark orange color. You’re about to take off your helmet to bite into it when a figure in the distance catches your eye by how much it stands out. At first you think it’s a droid by how its’ shine contrasts against the earth tones of the market, but as it moves through the crowds you realize it carries itself with aura all to powerful to be anything but a man. Its armor, you realize and as if he heard your thoughts, his helmet moves to your direction and stills.

With his helmet on you can’t tell if he’s actually looking at you or not, and you hope that yours offers you that same privilege. The armored man does not look away from you, his stare only making your blood run colder with every second he holds it. You look away first, and its childish the way you feel like you lost.

“Let’s keep moving,” you tell Krin, fruit forgotten as you herd her further along your path, no longer able to keep putting off the reality of your situation. “We need to find an inn, it’s getting late.”

She protests but you push her along anyways, your paranoia heightening every time you realize that the armored man is still close no matter how many twists and turns you make through the stands.

Krin shouts your name and pulls you to a stop.

“What’s gotten into you?” she gasps, out of breath. “You’re going to tear my arm off if you keep dragging me around like this.”

“Someone’s following us,” you let her know, nodding in the armored mans’ direction to see him moving your way.

Krins’ eyes widen and now it’s her who’s pushing you to move, “RUN!”

You don’t think twice as you break off into a sprint. You’re pushing past the crowds and somewhere along the way you realize that Krin is no longer next to you. You frantically look around, only to find the armored man still hot on your trail. You only pray that you'll find her again eventually as you continue running.

You keep this up until you reach a dead end where the unused carts of the market are piled up high. If you could climb those, then maybe -

The sound of slowing footsteps behind you makes you spin. The armored man stands a few yards ahead of you, effectively cornering you like a runaway animal. Internally you’re screaming at yourself for allowing yourself to be chased into this position. You should have just gone to the inn to begin with.

The both of you stare at each other again much like before. This time, there is no question of who his gaze is directed to. For a moment, its quiet and the only thing you can hear is your heavy breathing amplified by your helmet. Can he hear it too?

Against the setting sun, his unmoving frame looks like a grand metal statue. The rich colors of the sky are beautifully reflected on his armor. If he weren’t trying to kill you, you’d say he looks like a knight from a fantasy.

You snap out of it and remember that you’re really in a nightmare. How were you going to get out of this one? The armored mans’ hand was hovering around something on his waist – his own blaster probably, prepared in case you were going to use yours – as if you could miraculously learn how to use it before he shot you down. You contemplate the probability of that scenario, but you doubt you would win a shoot out with this space cowboy.

“Jules Taxo,” he says loudly, the surprise of the sudden words making you jump. The voice is low, and it seems to shake the ground below you.

You don’t respond, only backing up, hoping to inch closer to the pile of carts. When you first saw them, it was hard to see how high up they went, but you hope that it was high enough to jump onto the nearby roof building. That is, if he doesn’t shoot first.

“I can bring you in warm,” he starts, moving closer with every step you back away. “Or I can bring you in cold.”

“What the f-,” you whisper, biting back the curse and horrified at the threat. You stop your movements when your back touches the carts. The armored man stops advancing too, waiting for you to make the first move. It’s now or never.

You turn around and start to scale the pile of carts as fast as you possibly can. It’s clumsy and you probably look ridiculous, but you figure its better than being “brought in cold” refusing to even think about what that meant. You start to believe that maybe this sudden plan was actually going to work, but all of your thoughts stop cold when you feel a tight grip around your ankle trying to pull you down. You let yourself curse then, doing your best to grip the cart you’re on to resist him. You thought your slight head start would keep him out of reach. Evidently, you were wrong.

Your mind is ten steps ahead of your actions, trying to take in any detail that could get you out of this. The first thing you think of is his metal armor, so you latch on to that thought and let yet another desperate plan form. You seem to be doing a lot of those lately.

The armor should be heavy if it's made of metal, you think. His grip on your foot is too strong, and the more you kick, the more you risk losing you footing. But you have the high ground and maybe, if you let go and fell just right, you'd be able to use the weight of his own armor against him in the fall. That might buy you a few seconds to run away again.

You let go of the cart and let yourself fall on the armored man. Your plan works. In his surprise, he let go of your ankle and you both fall back to the hard ground. You land on him harshly and hear him groan as the weight of himself catches up to him. You scramble to get off of him, doing your best to ignore how much your head is pounding with how hard you fell. The man did nothing to soften the landing.

Before you can get too far, the armored man, still on the ground, extends his arm out blindly to grab at you. His heavy hand reaches for your helmet hoping to pin you down, but he misses and instead finds a hold on the gold chain around your neck. You feel a sting as it’s snapped off.

“My necklace!” you gasp, the voice scrambler failing to hide your panic.

You’re both standing now, opposite of how you were earlier. His back is to the carts while yours faces the streets, and while he’s cornered and you have the chance to run away, all you can think about is the necklace that’s dangling from his fist. There’s a heavy pause in the air as no one moves. The armored man looks at the necklace in his hand and then back to you. Your hands flex, itching to grab it from him but you know that if you get close you won’t be able to escape him again.

He starts to move again, and you break out into a run. You’re sure he’s about to reach you any second now when you hear a high-pitched noise come from somewhere in front of you. A flash of bright blue zooms passed your face, and you fall to the ground. It barely missed you and you breath in gulps of air to calm yourself.

You lift your head up from the ground when you hear a familiar voice call your name. Krin!

“Come on!” she says when she’s close enough to pull you off the floor. “We have to get out of here before he wakes up.”

Sure enough, when you look back, the armored man is an unconscious heap on the sandy ground. You don’t bother to wonder how long he’ll stay that way before you and Krin race away to an inn.

When you arrive, your thoughts are either nonexistent or too slow to register. Probably a survival mechanism to keep you from freaking out. You’re barely able to catch the conversation Krin has with the innkeeper or realize you’re walking to a room. It’s when she locks the door and shuts the blinds that you’re able to tune back in.

“You never told me the people after you were Mandalorians!” she exclaims, pacing around the room.

“I don’t even know what a Mandalorian is!” you say, ripping off the helmet in frustration. “I’ve never seen him before! He wasn’t part of the group that captured me on Klatooine.”

Your hand inches towards your neck and you cringe at the absence of your necklace. You forgot to go back for it, you remember.

“Mandalorians are a race of crazy warrior people,” she sighs, sitting on the bed with her head in her hands. “If one is after us, then we’re as good as dead.”

The Mandalorian is not after her, you think dully. Its after you. Guilt weighs down on you like a heavy blanket. Because of you, Krin could get killed when she’s done nothing but help you survive. She didn’t deserve this.

“That stun better keep him down long enough for us to leave the planet. Hopefully, we can lose him.”

You acknowledge her comment with a hum, knowing well enough that you weren’t going to leave this planet together anymore.

***

Neither one of you slept as much as you should have last night, and despite her cheery disposition when she nears the ship you’re both supposed to get on, you can tell that Krin is incredibly tired. You are too, but the anxiety of what you’re about to do keeps you from fully admitting it.

As she starts to board, you grab her arm forcing her to stop moving. She turns, giving you a confused look.

“I’m not going with you,” you say directly.

“What?” She questions, yanking her arm from your grasp. “What are you talking about? Why?”

“These people are after me, not you,” you explain. “You’ve helped me get this far and for that I’ll always be thankful for, but I’m putting you in danger and can’t let you risk your life for me anymore.”

“No! Y-“

You place a bag in her hands, cutting off her protests. “Half of her credits are in here. Take them and start a new life in the inner rim like you wanted.”

“But what about you?” She asks and you can start to see tears forming in her eyes.

You blink back your own, thankful that you can at least hide yours behind the helmet. “Don’t worry. I’m keeping the other half of the credits.”

“I meant, what are you going to do?”

You pull her in for a hug which she returns with a tight squeeze. “I’ll be okay,” you tell her, hoping that you didn’t just lie to her. “I hope we see each other again.”

Krin laughs through a small sob, “And under different circumstances.”

“Thank you,” you tell her before pulling away, leaving the shipyard behind you.

You walk back to the city, head held high with determination forcing your steps, well aware that a certain armored man has been following you all morning.

***

Din forgot all about the Twi’lek companion.

That’s the first thought he has when he wakes up, groaning at the discomfort he feels when he’s able to stand. It’s been a while since he’s been stunned.

His second thought is more of an instinct as he looks around for the child’s floating pram. Much to his relief, and generous luck, it’s still next to him closed and protected. He pushes a button on his vambrace, opening the pram which reveals Grogu’s furrowed face. He lets out annoyed whines that Din assumes are from being shut in for as long as he’s been unconscious.

“I know, kid. I’m sorry,” he says, rubbing one of the child’s ears. “I’ll be more careful next time.”

Small complaints are replaced with distracted joyful noises as the child reaches out to the dangling object he didn't even notice he was still holding.

Din inspects Jules' necklace further, a delicate gold chain with a single pearl dangling from it. He remembers the way she froze when he took it from her. The way it seemed like parting from it was almost as much of a struggle as it was running away from him.

Not for the first time he finds himself thinking that this entire job has been strange. Jules had been easy to find in Pasaana as well. It wasn't hard to track the ships coming in from Klatooine and spotting her in the market crowd had been a simple task - her pink partner drastically stood out and not many people wore Ubese helmets while parading around a market. It was like she wasn't even trying to hide.

He also remembers her putting up a better fight the last time he ran into her. Why hadn't she used her blaster? Jules all but used him for target practice last time, and he was fully prepared for a shootout to occur. He even closed the child’s pram beforehand so he wouldn't accidentally get caught in the crossfire.

So why did she choose to climb the carts? It made no sense! She had to know that she couldn't have gotten far like that.

She was buying time for her partner, he reasons, trying to not to overthink. She's not stupid. She was toying with him while the other one got ready to shoot. If he had been paying more attention, he would have noticed it.

He stares at the necklace again, knowing that he should just toss it aside and let the winds cover it with sand overnight, erasing it from his memory. But he can't come up with a good enough excuse as to why he shouldn't be allowed keep it. Din sighs and settles on pocketing it for some unknown reason, ending his distraction.

He still has to find her and now she had a head start. Mumbling a curse, he spends the rest of the night picking up her trail again which leads him to a shipyard the following morning.

From where he hides, Din can see that she’s about to board a ship. He starts to move out of his position, eager to prevent her from getting on and ending this assignment once and for all. But she stops and he witnesses a heartfelt goodbye between Jules and her partner before she heads away from the shipyard. He follows closely behind, confused as to where she’s going now that she didn’t board the ship.

She winds through the streets and he stalks her every move until she turns around and fixes her gaze in his general direction. No. Not his general direction – at him specifically. Din has enough experience with viewing life through a helmet to know when someone is looking directly at him. She holds the stare for a few moments before continuing her walk through the city. He understands through that wordless encounter that she wants him to follow her.

Hand on his blaster, he follows her steps until he sees her halt at the end of a secluded street. Jules turns around and removes her helmet.

Din doesn’t acknowledge the breath that escapes him and doesn’t dare think about how the holographic picture doesn’t compare to the real thing.

“I’m not going to run from you anymore, Mandalorian,” she says, shifting the position of her helmet beneath an arm as she holds her wrists out in surrender.

Her voice snaps him out of his daze, thankful that his armor hid the lack of composure on his face. Din clenches his jaw as he takes out his blaster, pointing it at her as he moves closer to her. She doesn’t move a muscle, only keeps staring with an unreadable expression.

He stops moving when he’s about a foot away from where she stands. He expects her to attack then, to pull out her blaster or to make a jarring movement that could potentially throw him off. Jules doesn’t do any of those things and he finds it just as unsettling that she is giving up so easily.

“If I go with you,” she starts, her voice set with steady resolve. “Will you leave the woman I was with alone?”

He wasn’t expecting that question but answers her anyways, “The bounty is on you. She is of no concern to me.”

Whether she was aware of it or not, she visibly relaxes at his answer. Jules nods, letting out a sharp exhale and extends her wrists out further.

“I surrender willingly, then.” Din cuffs her wrists quickly before she has a chance to change her mind. He’s about to begin leading her to the Crest when she adds a final condition.

“Just don’t stun me.”

#the mandolarian #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian x reader #din djarin x reader #star wars #fanfic #din djarin x you

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mrslittletall · 4 years ago

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Now that I played through the Phoenix Wright Trilogy, it is time to rate it! Graphics The graphics are painted backgrounds as well as hand drawn character models with different expressions/tiny animations. They are pleasing to look at and never feel out of place. For a game that released first on the GBA, they are surprisingly clean. I have no qualms with the graphics whatsoever. I love that, to this day, the character animations from the courtroom are used in animations where stuff gets debated. Sound and Music The music is fantastic, though I have to say, the one of the first title is the best and feels like the most iconic, especially the Objection theme, which is even used as part of the main menu theme for the trilogy. The first title has a lot of songs that are so nice to listen too, the court theme, the objection theme, the cornered theme is godlike and even the music outside of the court is fun, especially the theme song for the easy go lucky characters, like Lotta Hart. The other titles declined a bit, I think the music is a bit too somber and sounds too serious and the objection theme, while still remixing the first one, just doesn’t have the same impact. The second title has a fantastic new theme for the Search Core situation, used for a villainous reveal, but the third title kinda ruined it by using it EVERYWHERE. I kid you not, that theme played like... a 50 times or so, while it only was used for a certain character in the second one. The sound effects are fine. The blips of the text aren’t annoying and the way the text is sometimes written faster or slower got a good impression how fast or slow a person was talking. I liked that some of the sound effects from court were sometimes used in the dialogues to convey certain emotions also. Gameplay The game is a mix of a visual novel and an adventure game, so prepare to do LOTS of reading. You basically go to an area, then murder happens and then you have to find your defendant and proof their innocent. There are two kinds of gameplay, the first is the investigation, where you go around and look at stuff and talk with witnesses and the police and such. That is the most classical for an adventure game. The second one are the trials, where you have to proof your client’s innocence. It generally is by getting a witness on the stand and having to find the contradictions in their testimony. You can press them to get more information or present evidence once you spotted a contradiction. That is like a really nice puzzle and it could be pretty hard to find a contradiction, but it was all the more satisfying, when you found it and the testimony crumbled in itself and the prosecutor had their damaged portray after a good counter. I have a bit of problems with it though, because sometimes you are obliged to show a certain piece of evidence. Most of the time, several are allowed, but I had one case, where a crime photo very much proofed what I wanted to say, namely that the victim used his left hand to hold his coffee cup, but for some reason, the lip stain on the coffee cup was the only valid evidence. Huh... In the second and third title, the investigation part actually got spiced up by making Phoenix able to see when people hide secrets from him and then we need to gather evidence and get them to spill their secrets. It is similar to the court room, but with only two parties. I really liked that parts. The gameplay was pretty fun, for me at least, but it has a few weaknesses of course, which are the usual adventure game weaknesses. Once you know the solution to the puzzle, the replayability is gone. Story and Characters That is where the game shines. Like I said, the game is basically a visual novel. It has its own individual stories for each case as well as some over arching storyline, mostly centered around a certain case, the DL-6 in the first title and then about the Fey Family in the second and third title. The cases are sometimes a bit crazy, but that is too expected, the whole series is very whacky and filled with jokes and humours, sometimes good and sometimes bad jokes. The stories are interesting to follow and I often wanted to find out the truth myself, see if my suspicisions were correct and if we could get the real murdered on the stand to make a confession. It is the most interesting when the overall storylines are getting involved, like in the first title, the DL6-Incident was both for the fourth and the fifth case and seeing how it all came together and got solved completely, was amazing. The characters are a bunch of regulars and a bunch of case specific. Our main characters are clearly Phoenix Wright, the defense attorney, we play as and Maya Fey, a spirit medium. We also get a few regular prosecutors, with Miles Edgeworth for the first title, Franziska von Karma for the second and Godot for the third title. They could be considered the “villains”, but in a sense, they only try to serve justice, even though all of them have pretty nasty personalities at first. We also have Detective Gumshoe, a very unlucky homicide detective, Larry Butz, Phoenix’ creepy friend and Lotta Hart, a woman who can’t decide on a career, but loves making photos, and Pearl Fey, the little cousin of Maya. We also have Mia Fey, Maya’s big sister and Phoenix’ mentor, but she tragically died... but that isn’t too much of a problem, because Maya is a spirit medium and can channel her, so that she often helps Phoenix out. All of them, besides Larry, who I have some troubles with, are absolutely adorable, they are quirky, they have moments, they have character growth, they have certain speech patterns and I love them. What I especially like, Maya is kind of Phoenix’ assistant and in pretty much every other story, I would have expected for them to go the shipping route, but Maya and Phoenix, despite being shipped heavily by Pearl, never show any romantic energy in my book. They are more platonic, more like little sister and big brother. It may come from the fact, that Maya is the little sister of Mia Fey, Phoenix’ mentor, and he views her more as a little sister, but their platonic relationship truly touched me. When it comes to shipping, Phoenix and Miles have more erotic energy between them that Phoenix and Maya could ever have! Especially in the first title! It doesn’t surprise me that they are a popular ship. Pet Peeves Ok, some gripes I have with this game are the ages of the characters! Like, we had a case where a 14 year old girl planned a fake kidnapping, good, everyone was super stoked about that, but then it turned out, her 18 year old sister was a police woman at that time. And at age 23, she was considered a police veteran. What?! We also had a doctor who was said to be 31 years old... he looked like he was 55! Franziska is another offender... one of these japanese tropes of the “child genius”. She became a prosecutor at age 13 and only was 18 when Phoenix first met her. She is from germany and I am pretty sure it is downright illegal to be a legal prosecutor there when you are not of age, so... Then... we have the fact that this game so OBVIOUSLY is set in Japan, but the localization acts like it is set in America... Yes, America has a super traditional japanese village, Maya Fey is wearing traditional japanese clothing, we have a case centered around the Steel Samurai, typical japanese kids TV where an actor is wearing a full body suit and masks himself. I am actually surprised that when they were in super obvious japanese settings, that they actually talked about everything like it was japanese, and not made onigiri into donuts. But ok, I can forgive this, because it is so dumb and the original setting is more than obvious. Larry! The guy turned out to be creepy! He first got introduced as Phoenix’ idiot friend with a weakness for hot woman, but getting used by them a whole lot, ok, that is still fine. But with each entry, guy turned more and more creepy, until he tried to hit on a married woman and said that he wanted to date Pearl. Pearl is a nine year old child, wtf, Larry?! He had some moments, but even the game acknowledged what a waste of space he is and made him the butt monkey. Which I can fully and totally understand. Ok, that has been it! Overall, I enjoyed these games a lot! I would like to try and find the others in the series, but I don’t think I will be able to find them...

#phoenix wright #phoenix wright trilogy #phoenix wright spoilers #review

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pyreo · 5 years ago

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I did have a feeling the end of SU Future would be a lot of comfort stuff, and the air-quotes ‘real’ ending was the one in the movie, where they sang a big song and did a big showtime send-off with bows and bunches of flowers on stage. I think that’s pretty much what happened.

Maybe I’m the only one who isn’t talking about how hard they’re crying. Steven Universe Future concluded Steven’s arc, because there was no room for it while he was solving everyone else’s. That’s a valid part of any narrative, but still, I think the ENDING ending was earlier on. Future was kind of an extended send-off to let us part with it more slowly than it absolutely had to.

I literally can’t remember a time when there weren’t more SU episodes coming out at some point. I always liked throwing together connections between the visual hints and the music and the dialogue. It’s so weird to know that won’t happen any more. I got to dive in one more time with the movie, though, and it seems like the movie was one big throwback to everything the original series did - mystery gems, unknown things about the past, eerie gem architecture, coming to terms with something Rose messed up. SU Future was a departure with all of that in the past, for the sake of easing us out of the narrative.

It’s been really fun. I have unending respect for the integrity and forethought with which they wrote their cartoon. They never did what was easy or obvious.

Here under a cut I’m just gonna note down a few things I thought might happen along the way, and now never will!

Big one - didn’t we all think that Rose Quartz would somehow come back? One of the first Big Deals was that Steven missed his mother, never got to know her. Didn’t everyone think at some point that, with all the questions marks in gem stuff, somehow she could come back and actually be Steven’s mother? There’d be a reunion between her and the trio, and Steven would get her validation and... well, we’d just get to see Rose acknowledge the kind of person her son was. Steven wanted that, Amethyst Garnet and Pearl persistently mourned her, it seemed like the kind of big, magical finale idea that might conclude the adventure.

It’s pretty respectable that this isn’t how anything went. Steven did justice to all the real people who’ve lost a parent or never known them. He doesn’t magically get his mother back. He has to navigate his way through childhood, adolescence and start his own adulthood, without her. He has an entire heritage he knows next to nothing about and can’t access because of her. Any meeting between Rose and Steven, however brief, would’ve shattered the emotional reality the show strove for. Everything was put to rest at the end of the series, when it was proved it’s Steven’s gem, not Pink Diamond’s. The movie dealt with one last loose end and, after that, Rose just ebbed out of the narrative. There was no big redemption or final conclusion to come to. Like any lost parent, her memory is what they all keep. That’s it. Their lives will go on, and the part she played in those lives will shrink with time.

But, anyway, some quickfire ones:

Spinel didn’t get her form changed, even removing her tear streaks, I guess

We didn’t get anything else on White Diamond’s rule or how she got Like That, or why, or why she swapped Pearls with Pink exactly, or what she was like in the beforetimes

We didn’t get to see Lars doing stuff in space now! Or any acknowledgement over the whole... raising from the dead thing steven/rose did?? I guess we KNOW that but still

I did suspect for a bit that the finale MIGHT be steven deciding that he’s not a diamond, he wants to grow by himself, and somehow finding a way to abandon his gem and be human. I know that makes no sense with everything else, but it did occur to me, especially during the last couple episodes where his powers were going haywire

There weren’t any more costume changes! I guess I didn’t think their latest ones were, y’know, It

There wouldn’t be any decent way to do it but I’ve GOT to wonder what on earth steven and connie’s children could be like. I know a flash forward would’ve gone against the entire vibe of Steven heading out to see the world, freedom and everything... maybe they could do another series a few years down the line about their kids

I also thought for a second when giant monster steven cried, he might be going to heal up the Cluster, but yellow did say she’s gonna do that somehow anyways

We didn’t get any more solid romance on Pearl. I thought she might end up with someone by the end, I guess? But there’s never been a need to pair up more gems when we have Garnet. The possibilities open to her there are all we need to know.

They didn’t thrown any new fusions in - this one I actually dreaded because I thought it’d feel out of place. I’m glad they didn’t do that just for something dramatic.

We didn’t get any revisiting of the ‘gem ruins’ on earth and what exactly that was about?? I extremely feel like the ‘ruins’ of gem civilisation of earth came from a really different planning period and didn’t mesh with the exact history they ended up going with, which is fine, but I loved the inherent mystery in those old buildings and what they implied. Hell, remember when it was JUST Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, and nobody else, and ALL that stuff they weren’t telling him?

I also expected that Steven would... use his powers for something, or summon his shield again right at the end? Just to keep the whimsy going with his human plans for his life? Remind us of that first episode? I don’t remember if he even summons that shield by this point. I actually thought they might have him change his weapon to something else, make it really his own instead of Rose’s, and I still think that might’ve been an interesting inclusion.

#steven universe #su finale reactions post I guess

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vaguely-concerned · 5 years ago

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I played Death of the Outsider finally and I have some Feelings about it

and most of them not very positive. nice stuff first tho!

THINGS I LIKED:

- billie is such a good character. still new to her old self and slightly tender from coming out of the protective shell of lies that was meagan foster, full of old scars and doubts and bitterness but trying for something better, something kinder even though she still doesn’t quite understand what she’s walking towards -- the genuine care and tenderness in her voice when she talks to daud or thinks about deidre. I love her.

all that and she effortlessly IS also the queer disabled woc the gamer bros refuse to believe could possibly exist. exquisite.

- the idea of ‘killing’ the outsider is compelling, but it’s the sort of idea that needs a full length game to support it and its implications. cool idea, completely wrong execution.

- saying that: I love that the injustice of the outsider’s creation being righted is only made possible by a long unbroken line of mercy and kindness. daud saved billie from the streets, corvo spared daud, daud saved emily and spared billie after her betrayal, billie tried to save aramis stilton and became entangled in the void, emily spared billie, billie took this job in the first place partly because she loves her dad daud and wants him to find peace. that idea is so beautiful that I wish the rest of the narrative was strong enough to hold it up lol.

there’s also something going on here with other people holding on to the important pieces of you -- that billie is ‘all that is left’ of daud after he’s dead. once he saved a child from true loneliness and gave her a purpose, made her feel seen again, gave her the closest thing she had to a home, and when he’s completely lost himself in the void... that kindness is still alive in billie, and she helps him find his way. again that is really touching and thoughtful and plays wonderfully into the chaos system in these games thematically! too bad about all the stilted dialogue and characterization messes and uh. everything else.

- most of all I love how clear it is that billie and daud love each other. it’s a quiet love that has nothing to prove anymore, it’s survived all the blood and the ugliness and everything they’ve done to each other and to the world, a love with no demands left. it’s not the sort of love you usually see, in all its unsentimentality, but it’s real. when daud tells her he’s proud of her and trusts her no matter what she chooses to do, you feel how much he means it. (making his insistence on trying to make her choice for her all the weirder -- see my long rant of lamentation about his characterization in doto below lol)

there’s something about daud’s undramatic yet complete acceptance of and respect for billie that... I didn’t know I needed this, but it was a nice gift nonetheless haha, thank you. (it’s similar to how good it feels in D2 when you realize corvo just likes emily a lot as a person, even aside from her being his daughter. a good series for father & daughter stories)

- this carries over from D2, but I think the journal/log entries are better written and more insightful than the stuff out in the world.

- it cannot be overstated how much the gameplay loop of these games is just... pure crack cocaine for my brain haha, very few things give me this specific kind of brain tingle. I love the sound of looting and I love the art style and ambiance and I love planning out a strategy after finding all the options and I love never being spotted or killing anyone and I love the puzzle elements they put into exploration sections and I love the feeling of how you move through the environment. it’s one of the few games where I routinely get so into it I end up with a crick in the neck because I’ve been so focused for so long and never noticed I’ve been sitting in a way that makes my entire spine hate me. I needed something to get me through the last few days and it did deliver that, at least. karnaca is pretty enough that I didn’t even mind that most of the levels were recycled from D2 either.

- I’m not quite sure whether I understood this right but there’s a woman standing behind daud in the void -- I wonder if that is actually his mother and he’s been so close this whole time? at first I thought maybe it was jessamine but god no I hope she’s finally at peace after All That Nonsense, she shouldn’t have to hang around there anymore. there’s also a figure near him I could swear was corvo with his mask on, but he’s not dead canonically so that would make very little sense. oh well I’ll take my feels where I can get them even if I have to make them up wholesale

- the bankheist was cool as fuuuuuck, that and the emotional impact of daud dying was sadly the height of this game for me, after that it all went mediocre real quick

- paul nakauchi as shan yun was, as I have said before, a blast. ‘ugh I cannot continue my throat is as raw as a plucked pheasant’ fsdkfhlsadjkhfas

- daud’s funeral is genuinely touching. she gave him the entirety of her old life for a sendoff, battered and worn and dear as they both were. someone hold me

THINGS I H A T E D:

- the stuff they did with daud’s characterization. I am so unreasonably angry over this haha, the more I think about it the more I hate it. I think there are paths you could go with his ACTUAL character to make this work, but this was not it. I’ve said this before, but his most iconic, most defining scene is him surrendering himself to corvo’s judgement without justifying himself or deflecting the blame for any of what he’s done. this isn’t even regression in his character, it’s just.. a different character altogether. they could have gone for the angle that delilah almost managed to end the world b/c daud showed mercy and that’s the reason he’s moved to action, I think that might be a more compelling motivation for him at least. OR have him be more conflicted about how to do things -- violence is still the only tool he knows how to use but it’s not what he wants to or even can be anymore and the conflict troubles him, ‘His hands do violence, but there is a different dream in his heart’. or even use a different character for the ‘kill kill kill’ angle, he didn’t need to be here for this dlc at all.

also, just on a purely practical level... for all his flaws and longstanding moral shortsightedness daud is not a stupid man. why the FCK would he be so sure that killing the outsider will fix anything? if I, dumbass extraordinaire, could within half a minute wonder if maybe something even worse would take the outsider’s place if you removed him... why does that never occur to the Knife of Dunwall tm, a man about Void for like half a century or whatever?? ugh fuck this, I’m having a hard time explaining exactly why it all feels weird and wrong to me, but know that it does and that I Do Not Like It lol. I feel cheated out of something important I thought I had.

- again, this should have been a full game. (I think it is sold as one already, but it just hm isn’t) there’s way too much shit of literal cosmic importance for the game’s universe being picked up here for something this short to cover. save this HUGE idea for a rainy day should you ever want to do another game in the series and do something else with the dlc, honestly.

- god but the outsider is insufferable in this. I don’t know what happened, but by the end I was like ‘*thoughtfully strokes chin* maybe daud has a point billie keep that knife handy’. he’s annoying and boring, which is wild to me because he was always a lot of fun in the other games.

for real tho I don’t know if this is just my atheist-but-still-angry-at-god-somehow??? talking, but daud HAS a point. people are responsible for their own actions, but the outsider didn’t have to do any of what he did either. he could have chosen to be bored through the centuries instead of seeing what people would do if you gave them such ~*morally neutral*~ abilities as y’know summoning a bunch of rats to eat other people. the game wants me to buy the ‘but really this black eyed boy is woobie tho uwu’ so badly and no I’m not buying that give me my refund I want my chaotic neutral bastard back pls. I’d probably be more inclined to want to help him like that. where’s his salt gone, arkane. if you didn’t want him to be edgy why did you make him look like that.

- this is the lamest possible version of the outsider’s backstory lol, it feels like the pearl clutching panic about satanic cults back in the day all over. listen if it’s this easy to make a god the thrill is sort of taken out of it, if these randos did it anyone could. also how the fuck are they just normal-ish people anyway? why do they follow modern fashions? haven’t they been hanging around for thousands of years, haven’t their culture changed in any meaningful way? (I realize these aren’t the same guys as back in the day but it’s just weird) why do they speak a language billie and the player can understand? why did anyone think ‘idk some cultists no one’s ever heard of before with no thematic significance whatsoever’ was the way to go world building wise? they’ve taken all the unknowable eldritchness out of the eldritch horror and we’re all poorer for it now haha

relatedly the last level is... just not very good. you come down from the awesome bank heist and then there’s... whatever the fuck this was.

- while I do like billie finding daud in the void and him remembering her I hate that he goes out still full of self loathing and rage when you talk him into the nonlethal option, that he can’t forgive himself or find any sliver of hope or peace. I wish there had been a few more moments for the two of them to come to peace with themselves before he gave the outsider back his name, some real catharsis. as it is I was annoyed when the outsider ‘woke up’ or whatever b/c it felt like he was stealing attention from what I was actually emotionally invested in and not done with.

they had n o t built up billie’s or my sympathy for the outsider well enough either. again this is something I think they could have done if they’d structured things differently, if they’d been more deliberate in making you understand he was basically a child and letting you dwell on it. because there is a parallell there between him and billie, and billie and daud, but I, how do I put this, did not give a fuck

in short this was really similar to my experience with D2 in that there’s enough good there that it’s all the more painful when it fails to deliver on it again and again, and it ruined things I already liked about this story from the first game (daud’s arc and everything to do with the outsider, mostly). give me some months of denial and hard core headcanon work and I’ll probably be able to live with it

#*shows up to doto years late with enraged takes and starbucks*#dishonored #death of the outsider #meta #I am ranting but it really is because I do love these games and it hurts me when they let themselves down like this lol

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globgor-of-mewnie · 5 years ago

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Since When Has Our Relationship Ever Been Easy?

Okay, SO. I have grown to the point where I feel like song fics cause your work to be taken a little less seriously. It dates the work and can make it appear a little jarring. Of course, this doesn’t apply to work based off a song, but rather trying to insert lyrics into your writing in order to set a certain mood or, really, you just like the song.

Where am I going with this? Well, I guess it’s karaoke time, because I have to insert a song into this chapter. I tried everything I could think of to not use it, but there’s going to be singing involved at some point, and I’m not creative enough to write a song! I’ll go into more details at the end of the chapter, lest I spoil what happens with this introduction. Take care and enjoy!

*Also please let me know if the extra spacing between the dialogue in this chapter bugs you guys. It takes a little extra time to get it with less space, but if that’s how you guys prefer it, I’ll be happy to oblige!

Ages:

Globgor: 9

Eclipsa: 8

Prologue/CH1/CH2/CH3

CH3-Among the Enemy

Among the Enemy

It seemed no matter where she went, Eclipsa was a stark contrast to everyone around her. Whether it be with her friends, her family, or in this case, the guards who stood valiantly along the halls of her home. They remained stoic and unmoving, even as the princess skipped happily through the carpeted corridors. Sure, she tried waving to them once or twice, but as usual, she was ignored. Most adults seemed to enjoy doing that. Blowing her off like some sort of fly. She never really understood that. Wasn’t she going to be queen one day? Shouldn’t people be giving her some attention?

Then again, maybe her invisibility was actually a blessing considering all the mischief she had been getting in to as of late.

She stopped at her destination-a simple door that worked as a sort of supply closet for all the magical doohickeys Glossaryck left lying around. Her mom had told her magical mentor to pick up after himself, but so far he had yet to comply. So the queen usually just wound up getting the servants to toss his junk in here.

Much to Eclipsa’s delight.

She rubbed her hands together eagerly as opened the door. As expected, none of the guards paid her any mind. There was nothing in there that could be considered dangerous. It was filled with a bunch of junk, like apples that could sing in a foreign language, or sock puppets that held staring matches. Annoyances rather than weapons. But what was one queen’s trash, was another princesses’ treasure!

Eclipsa turned on the lantern that hung from the ceiling as stepped inside. She pushed some junk aside, wanting to make some room. Almost immediately, all the magical items that could talk started to chatter. The clock that snored, the hairbrush that brushed its teeth while whistling, the gloves that never stopped clapping, the list was endless. However, as fun as all these gimmicks were, there was one object the princess was searching for in particular.

“Aha! Got you!” She stood on her tip toes in order to reach behind the mirror that showed you what you would look like if you were the opposite gender and pulled out a music box. It was a white box that glittered like a pearl. It had several knobs on the lid, each channeling a different song. Not just any songs though. These were songs that came from other dimensions. Some of them weren’t even written yet in their world and were pulled out from the future!

Eclipsa hummed happily to herself as she sat the box down on the dresser that ate your clothes. As much as she loved hearing some of that hard-hitting music that made her want to swing her head around, she was in more in the mood for something softer at that moment. She reached for the fancy knob on the right hand corner and opened the lid. Because she had chosen an elegant song, a small ballroom dancer appeared when she opened the lid. Both she and the dancer gave a little bow to each other before the doll began her song.

Eclipsa swayed to the music, humming along to the song she had heard many times. She imagined dancing in the middle of the forest with a bard playing nearby. After all, it would be much more fun to dance around nature and life rather than the stuffy balls the Butterflys were notorious for throwing. Much more room out beyond the castle walls. Not to mention much more excitement.

A small smile appeared on her face as she imagined a dance partner to share this song with. Of course the first person she thought of was her secret monster friend. Ha! The very thought of Globgor dancing was priceless! He was much too serious to do something like that! She doubted he had an elegant bone in his body. He was always too dirty and grouchy. She liked him anyway though. She could tell he was a nice guy because he often brought over monster things during their secret meetings for her to see. He showed her their books, their games, their clothes, their customs, all sorts of things. She always made sure to return the favor of course, even though he acted like he had no interest in her culture. He made it very clear to her that although he made an exception for her, he still despised all Mewmans.

Oh Globgor. She was sure if he would just take the time to have some fun, he wouldn’t be such a grump. He was way too invested in all the arguing adults got into. He was almost as bad as the princesses of the Butterfly allies. Still though, at least he gave her the time of day, something she couldn’t say about….well, most people in her life!

“Hey Glossaryck, is that you in the-“

Eclipsa halted her twirling as someone unexpectedly entered the room. It was a strange looking woman with white skin, long red hair, and golden eyeballs. The minute their gazes locked, the intruder swore under her breath before turning tail in the opposite direction.

“Hekapoo!” Eclipsa shut the box and raced after the woman. She saw her walk down the hallway, pushing the rest of the High Commission with her. They were speaking in loud whispers, leaving the woman to shrug her shoulders in defense. “Hey guys! Wait up!”

The group tried to speed up, only for the princess to run around them and plant her feet firmly on the ground, her eyes locked on them.

A look of defeat crossed the members’ features before the big skull guy called Omnitraxus Prime spoke. “Ah Princess….we didn’t see you there!”

“Yes you did.”

“Well, okay it was more like we didn’t want to see you,” Reynaldo the Bald Plate said before earning a jut from Hekapoo’s elbow. The giraffe man shrugged as if to say ‘well it’s true’.

“Baaaaaah,” the goat demon Lekmet cut in.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.” The crystal-head guy named Rhombulus gave a pointed look towards the young girl. “So uh…Princess Eclipsa, is there something we can do for you?”

Eclipsa paused. “Well…..how are you guys?”

They all stared at her with blank expressions. They turned to confusion as they looked at one another.

“What does she mean by that?” whispered Rhombulus.

“Not sure. I don’t think we’ve included her in our battle strategies.” Omnitraxus looked over at his goat accomplice. “Lekmet, check our rosters. She is quite small. Maybe we just didn’t notice her.”

“Baaaaah.”

Rhombulus raised one of his snake hands.“Lekmet says a good leader should know who’s attending a meeting, who could be attending a meeting, and who already had attended a meeting at all times. A roster is nothing more than a cheat sheet for lazy planning.”

“He ate it, didn’t he?” Hekapoo quipped.

“Guys, guys!”

Everyone turned back to look at Eclipsa as she frantically waved her hands back and forth. “I wasn’t referring to the war! I just wanted to know how you guys were doing in general!”

A pause.

“……Why?” Reynaldo inquired.

Eclipsa sighed. “Well, it’s just that, every time you guys show up here, you meet with my mom and then immediately leave. How come you guys never hang around? I mean, you do for big events, but-“

“What is she talking about?” Omnitraxus whispered, as if the princess wouldn’t be able to hear him if he softened his voice.

Instead of answering him, Hekapoo raised a hand. “Princess, I’m gonna stop you right there. Our job is to monitor and regulate the magic throughout the multi-dimensions. Our association is with the queen. We’re not here to sit and chat with the rest of the family.”

“But I’m going to be queen one day!”

“And when that happens, you’ll see so much of us it’ll be nauseating.” Omnitraxus said, his voice condescending. “Until then, well, we really have no need to associate with you.”

“….” Eclipsa folded her arms and looked dejectedly off to the side. “….You know, I really don’t have many friends here. Everyone is so obsessed with the war. No one is interested in just hanging out, talking, or having fun. It’s like no one has the time to be happy.” She made a noise of frustration as she turned to face the window reflecting to her left.

“Mom says that we fight to stay alive, but what’s the point of that if we don’t do anything with our lives? It’s like we fight to live so we can live to fight! Is anyone actually interested in winning this thing? Who exactly is my mother if not the valiant she-knight revered by her people? And what will I be-“

….

Her words halted as she turned to see the High Commission had fled the area, leaving her to stand alone.

…..

Her head sank as she tightly gripped her right arm. She had actually surprised herself with the amount of insight she had spilled on the group of magic leaders. She had always known she hated the war, but she had never put her feelings into detail before. It wasn’t just about no one having time for her. She was tired of seeing everyone so angry and miserable all the time. This war had been going on her whole life. Would it go on for the rest of it? Would everyone be unhappy forever?

Eclipsa sighed as she made her way over to the window. She cupped her cheeks and leaned her elbows on the sill. How she wished Globgor was available to hang out that day. It was amazing that he was so involved in the war she despised, yet he still made time to meet with her once a week. It was always random days, as Globgor thought it would look too suspicious if he disappeared around the same time every week. This week they had planned to meet on Friday. Stupid ‘ol four days away Friday.

Ugh, she didn’t want to wait that long! She really missed him! She wanted them to play together! She wished she could just go say hi to him, but no doubt the other monsters would be pretty mad about her being there. Plus she really didn’t want to get him in trouble.

…..

Her eyes brightened. She released a happy gasp before quickly heading off to her bedroom.

___

A Mewman named Hue grunted in dismay as he landed face-first in the mud in front of him. He swore he could hear the animals of the forest giggling to himself as scrambled back to his feet and wiped himself off. This was just not turning out to be his day. How could he have gotten so lost? Ugh, it was all his cousin’s fault! Why did he have to give him such a crummy map? It was like a two-year-old drew this thing!

He groaned as he kicked off some aquatic creature from his boot. He pulled out his map and studied it closely. He had no idea which part of the territory belonged to monsters and which one to Mewmans. How was he not good enough to get a ride to his destination? Did one have to be a soldier in order to get a little respect in the kingdom? Why, without him and his scholarly knowledge, his village would be left-

Shink!

“……” Hue stared in disbelief at the spear that not only shot through his map, but went straight through his chest. He gave a watery gasp as he watched helplessly at the red stain growing over his shirt. He tried to speak up, give some sort of vocal protest over having been slain in such a way, but his body collapsed and shut down before he could get a word out.

___

“This string bean is what you stalked after for the last half hour?”

Globgor was clearly unimpressed as Tigre, the red, bipedal tiger monster with blue stripes, walked over to the hunted Mewman and retrieved his spear. “I mean, look at how thin he is! That’s not going to feed our soldiers and their families!”

“Hey, more meat is more meat,” Tigre retorted. He spoke with an accent similar to Globgor’s, and matched him in terms of height and build. He bound the Mewman’s ankles with rope so he could drag him back to the village.

Globgor smirked and looked back at the much larger game, which he was also dragging along. “Everyone back home is hungry. Your little entre just made them have to wait longer. My game is more than enough!”

Tigre rolled his eyes, but smiled regardless. “Yeah, that’s why you came to my house begging me to go hunting with you, right?”

Globgor smacked him on the head with his tail. “I do not beg. I said an extra pair of hands would be helpful. That’s it!”

“I’m pretty sure you threw in a ‘please’ in there somewhere.”

This banter continued until they got home and delivered their Mewmans. The chefs and cooks took them gratefully, and got ready to prepare them along with the other hunted trespassers.

“Can you believe your idea has completely changed the menu for monsters?” Tigre gave the Size-Shifter a playful shove on the shoulder. “Not only are Mewman numbers going down, but our resources are completely stocked!”

Globgor raised his left eyebrows. “Do I hear an actual compliment coming from you?”

His friend shrugged and pointed to a few adult monsters giving the Size-Shifter admiring glances. “I may as well join the crowd. You’ve gained a lot of respect over the past year, and your size changing powers haven’t even kicked in yet!”

“Um, my growing abilities haven’t kicked in, you mean. I can still shrink to the size of an ant!”

“Right. Impressive,” the other said with an eye roll.

“It is impressive! You’d be surprised how much you can do when nobody can see you!”

Tigre shrugged. “Maybe, but monsters won’t be able to look up to you if they have to look down at you, y’know?”

“…..” Globgor folded his arms behind his head and tried to hide a smile. “…I don’t’ care if the other monsters look up to me or not. I’m just here to do my part.”

“Oh Globgor, you’re so noble.” Tigre mocked while batting his eyes at him.

“I mean, I’m not saying I don’t like it-“

“-Which is why it’s going to suck when I grow stronger than you, and I become the hero of monsters!” Tigre goaded while jutting the other with his elbow.

Globgor smiled at the challenge. “Haha, right. Didn’t we just discuss how one day I’m going to grow to the size of a giant?”

“Well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

Their grins grew as their eyes narrowed at each other. Nothing else needed to be said. They knew what came next.

The stiffed their stances, posing as if they were getting ready to square off. Then they both threw their tails out and latched on to the other’s. They grit their teeth as they proceeded to wrestle with their tails, gearing to dominate the other with their strength.

“Give it up, Tigre! Even if I don’t beat you today, one day I’ll be able to grow my tail and snap yours in half!”

“Oh yeah? And what if you never learn how to grow? Have you considered that?”

“Of course I will! All Size-Shifters learn once they go through puberty!”

“How do you know? The only source you have for Size-Shifters was an old guy who-“

Both monsters paused their battle. Globgor looked away, a perplexed look on his face.

Tigre loosed his grip, his ears flattening against his head. “Oh hey man, I didn’t mean-“

The boy’s words were cut off as Globgor suddenly tightened his grip on the other’s tail and flipped him over on his rump. Before he could get back up, the other boy placed a three-toed foot firmly on his chest.

“You’ll never get stronger if you let your guard down like that.”

“Oh come on, Globgor. You have to admit that was a little underhanded!”

Both boys looked up to see a girl with a purple cloak pulled over her head. Her face was green and she had red speckles across her face. Her eyes were chastising, but she was smiling nonetheless.

Tigre allowed Globgor to help him to his feet while he inspected the girl. “That’s right. ‘Ol Glob-Glob isn’t as valiant as he looks at first.” He looked over at the monster in question “What gives, man? I thought I was the only friend you had in the village.”

Globgor shrugged. “I don’t know this girl.”

“I’m from a village not too far from here!” the girl said, a sneaky smile on her face. “I heard about the super awesome Globgor and came to see for myself!”

Tigre raised an eyebrow at the bewildered Size-Shifter. “That right?”

“You’ve….heard about me?” If he was being honest, the news was flattering. He approached the girl with a confident expression. “Um, mind telling me what you heard?”

The girl giggled. “I’ve heard that you’re very strong and loyal to your people! You work very hard each and every day! In fact, the only thing that can break that iron wall you keep around yourself is a sweet, chocolatey snookers bar!”

…..

Globgor’s smile disappeared. He felt his stomach drop as he inspected the face of the stranger closer. He could practically feel the color drain from his face once he realized that the green in the girl’s face wasn’t skin, but paint….

No. Surely not. Even she wasn’t this stupid.

The girl smiled again and gave him a small wave. “Hi Globby!”

CRAP!

“Y-You…!”

Behind him, Tigre released a resounding laugh. “Dude, did she just call you ‘Globby’? Ha! I need to remember that one! It’s so cute!”

Globgor pushed down his indignation as he tightly grabbed on to the girl’s shoulders. “Um, I’ll be right back! The girl and I need to have a talk.” In a flash, the monster dragged the stranger through the village to a secluded place behind a house. Immediately he slammed her against the wall, his four eyes glaring daggers at the imposter.

“Are you out of your mind?!!” He yelled as loud as he dared lest someone heard him.

The girl pouted at him. “I thought you’d be happy to see me!”

“Why on mewni would you think that, Eclipsa?!” He covered his mouth once he realized he said her name. He looked around, making sure no one had heard him. Oh, he couldn’t imagine what would happen if everyone found out the Mewman princess among them. No doubt she’d be killed or captured in ten seconds flat.

He glared at the girl. “We agreed to meet this Friday! Last time I checked, it wasn’t Friday!!”

“But I wanted to see you now.” Eclipsa insisted. “I’m so lonely back at the Butterfly Castle.”

Globgor gave her a mocking pout. “Oh. Is the poor princess bored?” He glared at her, baring his fangs. “Well, we’re hungry, cold, sleep-deprived, and above all, scared! So excuse me if I’m a little less than sympathetic!”

Eclipsa frowned at him before her bottom lip began to quiver. She turned around so that she wasn’t facing him. “You don’t have to make me feel bad. I know you work very hard. It’s just…you’re the only friend I have.”

“That’s sad, but not in the way you’re thinking.” The boy groaned as he noticed the tears appearing in the other’s eyes. “Oh come on now, don’t start crying.”

“I’m not…” she mumbled, wiping at her eyes.

Globgor dragged his hands down his face with an exaggerated sigh. “Look, I’m sorry for yelling at you, but what you’ve done is incredibly dangerous for both of us!”

The boy didn’t notice the satisfied smile that appeared on the girl’s face as the boy caved in to her crocodile tears. She turned back to him with a soft smile. “But you actually know me, and you didn’t recognize me! Look, I have my cheek marks covered! No one will know it’s me!” She shrugged. “Besides, even if they do find out, they should be okay with me since they like you and I’m your friend!”

Globgor rubbed his lower eyes in exhaustion. “Eclipsa, you don’t know how wrong you are.”

Eclipsa looked hurt. “You’re not my friend?”

“Of course I’m your friend! I wouldn’t be risking my neck to hang out with you if I wasn’t!” He gave her a hard stare. “But there’s no way I can choose you over them. I promised to be there for my people. If you get found out, I don’t know what I can do to protect you.”

Eclipsa smiled and grabbed his hands. “Don’t worry, it won’t come to that!”

“Won’t come to what?”

The two children looked to the side to see a young pink cat monster walking up to them with a basket in her paws. She looked between the two with wide, blue eyes.

“P-Puma!” Globgor squeaked, putting a little space between him and Eclipsa. “Um…we were just…uh…”

“How do you do?” Puma seemed to have forgotten her question as made her way over to the disguised princess, causing Globgor to stiffen with fear. “Have we met before?”

Eclipsa smiled and shook her head. “No, I’m from a different village. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Puma!”

The feline gasped as she look at Globgor in surprise. “Oh my goodness! This visitor knows my name! I feel so special!”

“Puma, I just said what your name i-“

“I made muffins filled with nuts!” Puma turned back to the girl and held up her basket. “I’ve been passing them out to villagers! Would you like one?”

“Thank you!” Eclipsa took one and took a bite. It certainly wasn’t as sweet as treats back at the castle, but that didn’t make it necessarily bad. It was warm and had a sort of comforting clasp on her taste buds. “Mmm! Tasty!”

“That’s so nice of you to say!” Puma said, placing a paw to her chest.

Eclipsa gave her a bright smile. She was doing her best to play natural, but inside she was brimming with excitement. She had just received a gift from a monster! She was having a polite conversation with one! This was something most Mewmans said was impossible. Why wasn’t it something more people tried to do?

She was interrupted from her thoughts as Globgor suddenly came up behind her and began to push her away. “Well, thanks for the snack Puma, but she really has to go now! We’ll have to catch you later!”

“Already? She just got here,” Tigre said, suddenly approaching the two while giving Eclipsa a skeptical look.

Globgor waved a hand. “Yes, but it’s a long way back to her village, and she needs to get back before dark!”

“How do you know?” Tigre asked.

“I just know! What’s with all the questions?!”

“Why are you acting so skittish?”

Eclipsa bit her lower lip as she watched the boys argue. Shoot. She hadn’t meant to get Globgor so riled up. Why couldn’t he just relax? She wasn’t afraid, so he shouldn’t be either.

She ginned widely as she looked at the monsters roaming around in all different shapes and sizes. Well, okay maybe she wasn’t feeling relaxed. Rather, she was itching to go around and see what she could. She had never seen so many monsters in her life. She was surprised by how….normal they seemed. Oh sure, they looked nothing like her kind, but she could see a mother with her baby, two boys rough-housing nearby, and a woman tending her garden. These were all things she could easily see by looking out a window back at the castle. Who knew the two races partook in every days that were parallel to each other’s?

Unable to help herself, Eclipsa rushed out into the streets, wanting to get a better look.

“Look, I swear I don’t know this girl!” Globgor promised, throwing his arms up at the two feline siblings. “But you know I tend to make it my responsibly to look after my fellow monsters. That’s why I want to get her home before it becomes too late to get her to safety! I just want to make sure she’s safe!” He turned around….to see that the girl was no longer beside him.

…..

“I’m gonna kill her!!!” he roared.

___

Eclipsa was unable to keep the smile off her face as she made her way through the town of monsters. It was so surreal! Sure, there was a rough-looking guy here and there, but everyone else seemed so friendly! Every time she waved to someone, they would smile and wave back. It was all so amazing!

As well as….confusing. Her mom had always said the only thing a monster could feel was greed and bloodlust. So, why did these monsters act so much like Mewmans? They played together, talked together, did business together….

A sudden thought occurred to the princess. Stopping in her tracks, she closed her eyes and listened to the sounds around her. She paid no mind to her eyesight and decided to rely entirely on her ears.

……

“…..Hey Mom, is it okay if Gingy stays a little longer?”

“-on my mother’s grave, the fish was THIS big! If I had a stronger net, I would be a hero right-“

“-found this tea that will go perfectly with that salad you put together-“

“-don’t want to go yet, Daddy! Just five more min-“

“-has your eyes!”

“-love your shoes!”

“-see you tomorrow!”

…..

….!

Eclipsa was floored. In her mind, she wasn’t currently in a village filled with monsters. Rather, she was back at home, walking among her own kind. Nothing she was hearing could make her see differently! This didn’t make any sense. If everyone hated each other so much, why were they-

Her eyes flew open as she was suddenly struck with a ball to the face. She fell over, groaning a bit as stars flew over her head. Luckily she had enough sense in her to keep her hood on, lest anyone see her Mewman hair.

“Oh, sorry about that!”

Eclipsa sat up to see three different monsters-a lizard girl, a frog boy, and some red one-eyed thing-look at her with concern.

“I didn’t mean to hit you! I guess I don’t know my own strength sometimes!” the lizard girl said with a sheepish grin.

“I told her Suzie she was going to wind up hitting someone!” the frog boy hugged.

“Oh, get off my back, Todd!”

“Hey, it’s okay, really!” Eclipsa stood up, holding the ball in her hands. “No harm done! What were you guys playing anyway?”

“Just a little game of pass-along,” the red kid said.

“’Pass-along’? Are you kidding? We have that game back at the ca-I mean, my village!”

“No kidding?” Suzie said with a laugh. “Well heck, up for a round? The game is more fun with four players anyway!”

“Can I?!” Eclipsa practically jumped.

“Yeah, come on! Over here!”

Eclipsa gleefully joined the three monsters and formed a circle with them. It was a pretty lazy game where all you did was put your fists together and pass the ball to other members by hitting it. If you tried to pass it to someone and they missed, they were the ‘loser’ and had to sit out for the remainder of the round. Despite the simplicity, the princess was overjoyed to be playing with a group of kids her age. It’s something she had been wanting for a very long time.

They all seemed to be enjoying themselves as they passed the ball to each other, doing an excellent job at keeping it in the air. As it turned out, the red monster was the first one to miss the ball.

Then things got awkward.

“Oooh! You’re out, Fred!” Todd said, pointing at said monster.

Suzie giggled as she tightened the circle of the group and grabbed the ball. “You’re the rotten Mewman, Fred! Park yourself off to the side so we can continue!”

“…” Eclipsa lowered her hands as she felt her joy diminish by the monster’s words. “…’Rotten Mewman’?”

Suzie shrugged. “Yeah, you know, the loser? Do they not have that in your village?”

“Um…” Eclipsa looked off to the side, not knowing how to respond to the girl’s words. “Well…that’s kind of mean, don’t you think?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it!” Fred said with a wave. “It’s just a game. I don’t mind being called a Mewman.”

“Can’t we play this game without insulting Mewmans though?”

The children went silent.

Suzie was the first to speak, cutting the air with a laugh of disbelief. “You’re kidding, right? Why shouldn’t we insult them? That’s the least they deserve after all they’ve done to us!”

Eclipsa’s heart sank. “I…don’t think that’s entirely fair. I mean, monsters have hurt them too-“

“Oh my gosh, are you actually defending them?” Todd said, backing away with the other two kids.

“But it’s true! Monsters have hurt Mewmans too!”

“Because Mewmans started it!” Suzie said, stomping her foot. “Monsters were here on Mewni first, and Mewmans forced them to leave their homes!”

“Monsters didn’t stand a chance!” Fred added. “They had magic and we didn’t!”

“They took our land, so now we’re barely scraping by with our food!” Todd said, clenching his fists tightly. “And they won’t rest until they’ve stolen every inch of land and killed us all!”

“That’s not true!” Eclipsa said, genuine tears starting to rise in her eyes.

“Oh no? You can seriously look at Solaria and say that’s not what she’s doing?” Suzie demanded.

Eclipsa opened her mouth to deny the claims….but stopped. Her mind went over the times she had caught her mother making battle plans with the High Commission. All the red circles she would scribble over the map…..She had always known that that those were lands her mother had planned to conquer, but….she’d never thought of them as people’s homes.

Of course she knew that monsters had inhabited Mewni first, but….they were….evil….No. They were just like Mewmans. She saw that today. So…if the Mewmans misunderstood the monster’s intentions from the beginning….

….did that mean that the war was all the Mewmans fault?

Eclipsa felt glued to the ground as the monster children decided to leave her, muttering that they didn’t want to play with a Mewman-sympathizer. She gripped her arms tightly, suddenly feeling very cold. It was like a veil had been lifted from her eyes. All her life she thought it was the monsters attacking and causing Mewmans to fight back with a vengeance. Causing her mom to fight.

Now so many pieces were starting to connect.

Her pupils shook as she took a second look around at the monsters inhabiting the village. She had been wrong before. There was one key difference between the two races.

There weren’t any Mewmans shivering on the sidewalk.

There weren’t any injured Mewmans sitting nearby without any bandages.

There weren’t Mewmans moving off to the side so they could vomit in peace.

The Mewmans didn’t eat the tiniest portions of food she had ever seen in her life.

The Mewmans weren’t living in broken houses.

The Mewmans weren’t suffering like the monsters were.

That…..that wasn’t fair.

No…

The bad guys….were the Mewmans.

Eclipsa covered her mouth as she sat down on a bench resting nearby. Had the signs always been there? Had she just ignored them? Sure, she actively tried to not pay attention to the war, but never would she have guessed that it was her own people who were causing all the misery in Mewni. Her poor mother. She probably had no idea how screwed up everything was. She needed to say something. She had to tell her people that the monsters weren’t that different from them after all.

….But how could she do that without revealing she had been in monster territory? What if the High Commission found out? What if her mother did? They’d lock her away for the rest of her life! Worse, she’d may be unable to see Globgor ever again! What could be a more tragic fate than that?

No, she’d have to find another way to help the monsters. A discrete way. Maybe with Globgor’s help. He could be her connection to the monster world. She’d think of ways to make up for the carnage. She just wished there was something she could do right now to help them a little….

….

As if the Stump itself decided to answer her prayers, her mauve eyes landed on an abandoned guitar sitting nearby.

___

“-rip her stupid spades off then use them as a sleeping mask!” Globgor was in a foul mood to say the least. He had spent the better half of an hour trying to find his so-called friend before she did something to get herself killed. Did that girl ever think? Like, ever? Why was it she never took potential threats seriously? Did she really think she was immune to the deep-seeded hatred between their races?

He was about to take another search around the block, when he bumped into a random monster. He was about to apologize when he noticed that many monsters were headed in the same direction he was. In fact, he was the only one heading in the opposite direction. Where was everyone going?

His ears pricked up at the faint sound of….singing? Who was singing? Nobody in his village sang as far he knew. He turned in the direction of the noise, furrowing his brow in concentration.

“Dreams to dream. In the dark of the night, when the world goes wrong, I can still make it right. I can see so far in my dreams. I’ll follow my dreams until they come true~.”

…..Okay, Globgor had little to no experience with music, but this was the most melodic sound he’d ever heard in his life. He turned around and followed the rest of the monsters who were crowded around the source of the magical sound. He took the opportunity to shrink to a miniscule size so he could squeeze past the others. Once he reached the front, he returned to his normal size, his widened at the sight before him.

Eclipsa was sitting a bench with a guitar, singing to her captivated monster audience.

“Come with me. You will see what I mean. There’s a world inside no one else ever sees. You will go so far in my dreams. Somewhere in my dreams, your dreams will come true~.”

….How….what….Eclipsa could sing?! And play guitar?! Like really really good?! Like, he could feel her voice working as some sort of balm over his aching muscles. He had never heard a sound so pleasing to his ears before. Before he knew what he was doing, he closed his eyes so he could concentrate more on her voice.

“There is a star waiting to guide us waiting to guide us, shining inside us, when we close our eyes~!”

Globgor gasped as his friend hit a high note at the end. It sent shivers down his spine.

“Don’t let go! If you stay close to me in my dreams tonight, you will see what I see. Dreams to dream, as near as can be, inside you and me, they always come true~.”

Globgor opened his eyes as his village applauded the stranger’s song, clearly having enjoyed someone taking the time to give them a show. He watched as the princess stood up, giving a little bow.

It was only when their eyes locked did he realize that tears had appeared in his eyes.

___

“I’m telling you, I just got some dirt in my eyes!”

“All four of them?”

“It happens!”

Eclipsa pushed his shoulder, giggling to herself as she made her way through the forest fauna. “Why is it so hard for you to admit your more sensitive feelings?”

Globgor grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest. “Look, I already admitted you have talent. What more do you want from me?”

Eclipsa’s smile softened as her eyes became downcast. “Well…next time we meet, I’m going to do better than a song. I’ll bring you some food and stuff to give to your people. I want to do what I can to help them. That’s all I can do right now until I’m queen.”

“……” Globgor cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. “….Thanks Eclipsa. That means a lot to me.” His face became uncharistically soft as he looked her up and down. “Are you uh….okay?”

She nodded despite the sad smile on her face. “Yeah….I guess I just didn’t want to believe you about my people. I can’t believe we’re the bad guys. We’re really awful people. I mean, I know you told me this already, but I just thought you were being a jerk. I had no idea our living conditions were so different.”

“…..I mean, you’re not a bad person.” Globgor said, giving a careless shrug. “So…I guess as long as there’s one good Mewman, there should be hope for the rest of your people….maybe.”

Eclipsa grinned and mimed the action of playing a guitar. “You know, everyone seemed to really like my singing. Maybe I could come back some time and-“

“NO.” Globgor caught the girl with his tail so that he could stop her from walking. He turned her so she could see his eyes digging into her. “Eclipsa, you can never pull what you did today ever again. Do you understand?”

“But everyone loved me!”

“Because they thought you were a monster! It doesn’t matter how kind you are to them, or how nicely you sing, if they find out you’re a Mewman, you. Will. Be. Killed.” He groaned and ran his fingers through his light-pink curls. “I have enough on my plate as it is, I don’t need to add worrying about you on top of everything else!”

“….” Eclipsa gave a small shrug. “It’s okay. I can look out for myself.”

“Of course I’m going to look out for you!” Globgor said in exasperation. “I don’t want to lose you!”

……

After a pregnant pause, Globgor squinted his eyes at the girl in a threatening manner. “I hate you for making me say that.”

Eclipsa’s cheeks lit up as she heavily blushed. “Oh, you!” She turned to face him. “Thanks for showing me what monsters are really like, Globgor.” She then stood on her tip toes and kissed him on the cheek.

As expected, the boy shot back like she had just bit him. “H-Hey! W-What are you doing?!”

Eclipsa giggled and raised a digit. “You’ll never get stronger if you let your guard down like that!” She gave him a wink before heading in the direction back to the castle.

“…..” Globgor shifted in indignation. “If you ever call me Globby again, I’ll bite your face off!” he called.

“No you won’t!”

“Well….I’ll want to!”

He watched her until she was out of his sight. Once she was gone, he gently touched the spot she had kissed. No one had ever done that to him before. His first instinct was to scrub the spot clean, but he ultimately decided against it

…..

Geez, why did he keep getting the suspect feeling this girl was going to get him into a lot of trouble?

And why did he feel so okay with that?

*Song is Dreams to Dream from Fieval Goes West. You can find it on Youtube. Make sure to listen to Tanya’s version!

I want to start by reassuring you guys I’m not going to make this story as simple as ‘monsters good/Mewmans bad’. The fault in monsters is going to be covered in later chapters. I believe it’s important for Eclipsa to be the first one to realize that her race isn’t as innocent as she was raised to believe. After all, I imagine her to be the more open-hearted one, not really wanting to be enemies with anyone. It would be a lot easier for her to let go of any prejudices she had than it would be for Globgor, who’s actively involved in defeating the Mewmans.

Now, let me explain why I needed to use a song for this chapter. I don’t know if anyone else notices this, but Globgor always seemed entranced whenever he heard Eclipsa sing during the show. He always stood and watched before he joined in harmony. This causes me to believe he adores his wife’s singing voice. Therefore, I needed the first time he heard her sing to be nothing short of magic. I didn’t feel like I could really capture by just saying Eclipsa ‘sang really good’. I needed a song to refer to. I really didn’t want to, but I’m not creative enough to come up with my own song! On top of that, I was crazy about this song as a kid, and I still find it to be a sweet tune to this day. I hope you guys are okay with how I handled the moment and will forgive me for pretty much making this chapter a ‘songfic’ one.

Another time-skip will happen in the next chapter. And we’re going to cover a topic that I know a lot of you have been eager for.

Mewburty.

#CH3 #Mun writes #fanfiction #Globgor #Eclipsa #globclipsa #svtfoe #Magic High Commission #MHC #SWHOREBE

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coll2mitts · 4 years ago

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#86 Carmen Jones (1954)

A sex crazed factory worker corrupts a dumbass American soldier, and when she tries to exert bodily autonomy after their relationship ends, he strangles her to death. Cute.

Carmen Jones is a modern day retelling of the classic Bizet opera, Carmen. Set in America during WW2, Carmen works at a parachute factory, and although she has a reputation for getting around, she has her eyes set on Corporal Joe. The only complication is he currently has a sweetheart, Cindy Lou, and she’s sitting right next to him while Carmen puts the moves on.

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The majority of the songs in this movie are from Bizet’s original opera, but with new English lyrics. I’m all for translating something in a different medium, but Rogers and Hammerstein made the bizarre decision to require actual opera singers to perform these songs, instead of updating the style of delivery to something you don’t need years upon years of training to execute.

I probably don’t have to tell you that the majority of the actors in this movie were dubbed when they sang, including their main actress, Dorothy Dandridge, whose parts were sang by Marilynn Horne.

Again, I ask, why cast leads of your movie that you’re going to have to dub over? This also leads to some racists fucking bullshit, where the black actors are dubbed over with white singers trying to “sound black”. And by “sounding black”, apparently that means speaking in improper grammar and replacing any word that starts with T with a D. It’s fucking awkward.

The songs are written in this dialect, however, so it wasn’t even a creative choice from Marilynn Horne. It was written into the show, which again, fucking oof. Dorothy Dandridge doesn’t even speak that way when reciting the dialogue, but the minute she has to sing, we’re treated with a barrage of dats, deres, and dens.

Carmen Jones did provide a platform for a lot of black actors and actresses to be featured in a major motion picture, but there were so many things the filmmakers could have done to prevent white voices from dubbing black actors. Hire someone qualified to sing the role, or change the skill needed to play the role. With the amount of talent that exists in the world, if you can’t find someone who can both sing and act, you’re not doing your job as a casting director.

(Yes, I know, I know, the lord knows I’m going to have so much to answer to when we get to My Fair Lady, I’m preparing myself.)

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Opera singers are nothing *but* charisma, because there’s a good possibility they’re singing in a language that their audience does not understand. They need to exude the emotion from their voice, and from their movements. If you want the cast of your movie to sing opera for whatever misguided reason, cast fucking opera singers.

I have mentioned before I have a very, very, very, bad and basic understanding of French, so listening to this opera, I can only pick out bits and pieces of what the hell anybody is singing. Thankfully, the way Elina Garanca delivers the song, I can surmise everything I need to know.

Olga James is proof that you can cast someone charismatic and charming who can also fucking sing opera. After Joe blows off Carmen, he asks Cindy Lou to marry him while telling her she reminds him of his mother. I can’t think of anything less romantic, but Cindy Lou falls for it hard. They sing a beautiful duet and she agrees to marry him that day so they can “honeymoon” before he leaves for flight school in the morning.

Seconds after Joe proposes to Cindy Lou, he’s called to duty to drive Carmen to a neighboring city’s prison because she started a fight with her co-worker. While Joe is initially pissed off by this, Carmen is through the roof.

Otto Preminger, the director of this film, didn’t believe Dorothy Dandridge could act “sexy” enough to play this role, so she dressed up like Carmen, headed into his office, auditioned again and got the part. In the original opera, Carmen is sensual, and she comes on strong, but the way Dorothy tries to eat this man alive in the first few scenes of this movie is just bizarre and alarming.

Carmen tries to convince Joe to let her go in exchange with sleeping with her. When he doesn’t succumb to her advances, she jumps out of the jeep and onto a very slow moving train. She’s running in heels, and he’s a corporal, so he catches her pretty easily. After tying her up and shoving her back in the jeep, he decides to shave some time off the journey by taking a backwoods road, uttering a sentence that is literally every Jeep owner’s motto:

In a shocker to end all shockers, he gets the Jeep stuck in a ditch. Carmen offers to lead him to her hometown, cook him a meal, and when the next train comes, they can head to Masonville together. They end up back at Carmen’s place and talk about their futures - Joe plans to marry Cindy Lou and go to flight school, and Carmen plans on having a bunch of casual sex that she enjoys. I know I should be watching Carmen’s excellent skills of seduction, but I’m just focused on the fact that Harry Belafonte had to probably eat a dozen peaches to film this scene.

So, they sleep together, as if that wasn’t going to happen. Carmen escapes, and Joe is arrested for letting her get away. She sends him mail, and he continues to pine for a lady he slept with once and subsequently put him in jail, instead of Cindy Lou, who is amazing and supportive in every way.

While Joe is serving out his sentence, Carmen mopes at her favorite watering hole, waiting around for his return. We finally meet some of her friends, like Frankie, who sings about how excited the beat of the drum makes her, IN A SONG THAT DOESN’T HAVE A DRUM IN IT, WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING HERE.

youtube

Like, I get pizzicato is cool and everything, but this song does not justify the fire choreography going on behind Pearl Bailey. Seriously, props to these dancers, they are doing everything in their power to try and make this song make fucking sense.

I don’t know why this makes me irrationally angry, but it does. They could have easily added a drum part to this. It is the worst translation of the opera to musical format, and a waste of Pearl’s talent. I can’t.

Later in the night, the big hot-shot boxer Husky Miller stops by to revel in his latest victory. Everyone except Carmen seems impressed, since she’s still thinking about Joe’s dick, and has probably seen that Animaniacs cartoon enough to be as bored with this as I am. Husky seems enthralled with her, however, and asks his manager to try and convince her to join them in Chicago. They rope in Carmen’s friends, and even though they all sing a very convincing song about how exciting it is to board a train, Carmen sticks by her man and blows them off.

Speaking of her man, he is released from jail, and instead of indulging Carmen with the love fest she expected, informs her that he will be leaving for flight school the next day. Carmen realizes Joe doesn’t appreciate her jail-induced celibacy, and decides he’s no longer worth her time. She tries to leave with Joe’s commanding officer, since he seems to knows a good woman when he sees one. Joe throws a fit, and a punch, at a Sargent, which would land him 4 years in jail if he’s caught.

After coming to the realization he’s the dumbest person alive, Joe decides to flee the city with Carmen and head to Chicago. Carmen and him spend a week holed up and boning because Joe can’t go anywhere at risk of him being arrested. Carmen, bored and out of money, decides to hit up Husky Miller and see what that wealthy dude is up to. Frankie’s outfit only confirms Carmen made a terrible choice in a man.

After pawning some tacky jewelry and buying a new dress and some food, Joe gives Carmen shit about paying for things, because he can’t possibly understand how she could earn money without selling herself. He asks her to stay in the apartment with him forever, because he lovesssss heeeerrrrrrrr, and that means she has to listen to what he says. She, rightfully, tells him to get all the way off her fucking back and leaves to grab a sugar daddy.

She has a lot of fun with her new benefactors, clearly. Being in Husky’s pocket has a lot of advantages, and Carmen is enjoying all of them. That is, until Cindy Lou comes knocking, looking for her ex-man, because for some goddamn unspeakable reason she still wants him back.

Joe shows up to harass Carmen, because he’s a NICE GUY, and Cindy Lou tries to convince him Carmen does not, in fact, have a magic pussy, and he should go home with her instead. He, like the dumbass who gave up his future as a pilot to be with this flighty woman, decides running from the army and stalking Carmen is the way to go. Cindy Lou is heartbroken, even though she deserves so. much. fucking. better. than. this. mediocre. man.

I really wish I could insert a video of Olga James singing this song, because she knocks it out of the park. The range in the emotions on her face, from despair, defiance, anger, love, and pleading... it’s so beautiful. The fact this woman didn’t become a bigger star is just a crime.

After the drama is dealt with, Husky Miller takes his glamtourage to one of his fights and punches this shit out of his opponent, winning the match.

Joe, of course, follows them there, because he doesn’t have a goddamn brain in his head. After Husky’s victory, he drags Carmen into a broom closet and begs her to run away with him. Sure, he’s AWOL, and yeah, if he’s arrested he’d be sent to prison for four years, but he loves her, and that should be enough to incentivize her to live in his poorly built cage.

That is a face of a woman who is fed up with some bullshit.

Carmen tells Joe, again, that she’s with Husky and has no interest in leaving her cushy setup to hock more jewelry and never leave a shitty apartment. Joe tells Carmen he’ll kill her instead, and she dares him to, either because she wants to die, or she underestimates how much men love to possess people that once smiled nicely at them.

Then he strangles her, concluding this cautionary tale of domestic violence.

Nothing good ever came from a man who thought he owned a woman. Except this fire violin piece.

Prepare yourselves for a spooky double feature. We have a few... unusual films coming up next.

#unwarranted opinion #100 best musical movies of all time rotten tomatoes

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tumblunni · 7 years ago

Text

“SO WHY DO U WANT 2 HUG THIS TRASH GRANDPA, BUNNI” post

Okay, i figured since, well, that one goddamn wifi event is That One Goddamn Wifi Event, I may as well make a short post about it so people who weren’t able to see it can understand how it fuckin Blew My Mind when I was a teenager and plunged me into the fandom hell for the most obscure unloved jerkass grandpa who may or may not even be the guy this vague tantalizing mystery plot point is even about, and AAAA

So yeah here we go, transcript of the event text (thanks, Bulbapedia!) and some general summary of the context of who da fuk dis Charon is, and hopefully maybe at least one more person shall now understand this tiny fandom for a tiny gremp!

~The Context Of Charon~

(skip all this if you just wanna get to the wifi event transcipt)

If you haven’t played DPPT and don’t plan to: The villain team of Sinnoh is Team Galactic, a bunch of silly guys in space costumes with a rad jazz theme tune and a surprising level of competance in a terrifying plan to erase the universe and replace all emotion with infinate silence. Also, interesting moral ambiguity cos most of them are either oblivious or outright good, just being manipulated by the team’s super scary badass leader Cyrus who’s led them to believe they’re going to ‘fix’ the world to end all sadness for everyone. This weird complexity behind goofy nonsense hair people is what got me hooked on them as my faves!

So who is Charon in particular? Diamond and Pearl got a third version called Platinum that fixed a bunch of glitches and unfinished graphics and expanded upon the rushed endgame, etc. It also (for some reason) added one single extra member to Team Galactic, as seen here on the second furthest from the right. Charon is a grumpy grandpa and he literally does nothing in the plot. Its really confusing why he was actually added, he only gets more than two lines of dialogue if you pursue a secret sidequest waaaaay in the postgame, and he still gets like.. SIX lines of dialogue and not even a boss fight. Poor dude barely exists in this game! So what’s weird is that this wifi event kinda contains more dialogue for him than he ever got in the main game, and it at least gives him a purpose for being here- to introduce the new transformations for Rotom that were added in this wifi event. But it just seems pretty badly handled cos he never even appears in the event and there’s a lot of fan debate that it isnt even meant to be him, blablabla. And he still doesn’t do anything UNLESS you get this wifi event, which is really unfair and probably contributes a lot to his unpopularity, okay sorry I’m starting to ramble...

Basically, all you need to know is that Charon is a grumpy grandpa who does literally nothing in the plot.

The Establishing Of The Grump Gramp This is... kinda necessary to know why this thing hit me so hard in the emotions? This is why I don’t think it would work as well if Mystery Wifi Event Flashback Person actually ISNT Charon. All we see of Charon in his VERY FEW non-optional dialogues is that he is vain, cynical, pompous, greedy and for some reason obsessed with talking like a complete tool. And he’s SO MUCH this that he doesn’t even have any loyalty to his fellow villains, he exists to be like.. The More. Everyone else is some degree of honorable dude doing what they do cos they believe in a good cause, Charon is that one teammate that’s too evil even for the rest of them. Or, like, at least too petty? He’s an eternally incompetant comic relief dumbass who never even has enough imagination to do anything genuinely evil, he’s somehow less dangerous than his morally ambiguous teammates! He’s just sitting here like ‘fuq yeh i luv bein evil cos i can swipe the pocket change outta dis vending machine’, then somehow it falls on him and shatters his old man spine. Meanwhile his boss is being all ‘I want to make a world of smiles!’ *collapses the universe into a black hole and literally summons poke-satan* So ANYWAY the relevant point is that you can see why he’s THE SINGLE MOST UNEXPECTED person to suddenly get a sympathetic backstory!

Some transcript of his tiny non-wifi-event dialogues for comparison of how much of an absolute prick this man be:

” It seems quite obvious to me, Charon, the genius even the boss recognizes.” "Humph. Saturn and even Cyrus fall to a mere child... Perhaps another option needs to be considered. One befitting the genius of Charon!" [This is basically his only dialogue in a normal game run, aside from expositioning a few things that were said by other people in the previous version.]

Postgame optional dungeon text:

“What do they see in Cyrus? Immature, overthinking buffoon. He goes through the trouble of assembling Team Galactic for what? Ultimately, he destroys his own creation for his ludicrous vision. It's no thanks to him that I have to struggle with the pieces." “The young can live with their dreams. I prefer to remain firmly in reality. And for that, money is paramount.” “ With this Magma Stone, I will awaken the legendary Heatran! I will control the volcano's eruptions to extort money by the millions! Fear me! “ [cue him being defeated offscreen in a cutscene by someone else] "...Uh, what are you saying? I know nothing! Extorting with Heatran? Merely the blathering of this harmless old man! All said in jest! Besides, among Team Galactic's Commanders, I was the most junior..." [Seriously, you don’t even get to see what Heatran even is! its just an optional scene to go back after he’s gone and catch the thing.]

So yeah he does literally nothing and all we know is that he’s a jerk and he betrays his evil team only to fail horribly at being his own villain also that he has a Rather Specific Speaking Pattern, which will come up later in linking him to that wifi event BUT ANYWAY literally the rest of the team walks away and leaves him to his fate cos he’s such a jerk literally Jupiter says he’s ‘not fun anymore’ literally a man dressed in a boulder costume bitchslaps him with a giant frog its like the biggest fuckin smackdown and the player didn’t even need to participate, he just self-destructed mid cutscene farewell two paragraphs of dialogue granddad, we will probably never remember you ever

B U T

~ The Transcipt Of The Fabled Wifi Event ~

Extra context: this was probably the worst handled of all the horribly handled wifi events. Makes sense at least, sinnoh was like the beta test for whether such a thing could actually be possible in this series. i’m glad they’re more accessable nowadays, but what sucks is that now we don’t seem to even get as many Actual Events, instead they’re just a plain gift of a pokemon via trade without a fun cutscene :( But yeah it was only accessable for a one month period when the game first released, and the item you got in the vent didnt have enough clues about where and how you were meant to use it in order to find the secret room, unless you already knew it was connected to Charon.

The item for the event is the Secret Key, which is somehow charmingly the least secret secret of all time

You take this to one random spot on a random wall in one of two separate Team Galactic HQs in this game, and the whole damn wall vanishes to reveal Charon’s Secret Lab/The Rotom Room

Here, you can turn Rotom into any of its new transformations. And then, completely optional, is a hidden backstory for this one terrible granddad! The notebook on the bottom desk explains how the transformations work, gameplay-wise, and also ‘hey this secret lab belongs to me specifically, Charon’ The notebook up to the top right on top of the box which you might not have noticed, and might have assumed would just contain more boring tutorials? Hoo boy dude, 99% OF THE EVENT DIALOGUE is in that thing! And you’d think a second hand flashback entirely through longwinded narration would be terrible but man somehow it really just worked for me. RIP my soul, cause of death: this

SO LETS GET GOING TO THE MEAT OF THIS POST, MY FRIEND

If you don’t feel like scrolling thru this textdump, I’d reccommend Chuggaaconroy’s excellent lets play of platinum, where he read out the journal here. (16:25, talks about the various wifi event failures first.) Or if you watch this earlier episode (17:15) you can see the whole mini-dungeon where you can catch Rotom in the first place, which isn’t necessary to understand all this but its still super cool. If you do feel like scrolling, here have the appropriate music, or the appropriate music: anime orchestrated version

+++

"It's an old notebook. There's no telling how old it is."

Our encounter was a sudden one. It was when I found my toy robot, one that I had earlier misplaced. At that instant, a Pokémon startlingly emerged from the lawn mower's motor! Clutching my robot, I stared, transfixed by the peculiar Pokémon.

The Pokémon hovered in the air, held aloft by a power unseen. As if curious and unafraid of my presence, it floated toward me. Crackling sounds accompanied it, as if from static electricity in the air. Remarkably, it seemed the Pokémon was the source of this power! In alarm, I flinched, certain that my face would be subjected to a shock. Much to my surprise, the Pokémon seemed to favor me with a smile.

Finally, I came to realize that the Pokémon only wished to be friends. I have decided to name this most wondrous Pokémon 'Rotom.' Simple though it may be, Rotom emerged to me from the motor of a lawn mower. Motor and Rotom... Surely the link is obvious?

Rotom is a Pokémon that is simply sensational. The fact that it can turn invisible is simply the beginning. What makes Rotom unique is its ability to enter and operate machinery!

Rotom and I became fast friends. We were perpetual companions. The electricity from its body forbade contact, however. We could not touch, let alone hug or hold hands, but we cared not. For we were bonded on a much deeper, incorporeal level.

A feeling of mischief got the better of me one day. Seeing Rotom hovering, I decided to startle it--normally I would not. Perhaps frightened, Rotom discharged power beyond its usual range. I fell, stunned, into the arms of unconsciousness...

When I came to, to my horror I realized that Rotom had disappeared. I searched high and low for my friend in dismay and desperation. 'Don't chastise yourself. The fault is mine. No harm done. Let us play as we always have.' Though my words poured out, my friend could not be found to hear them...

My search for Rotom carried me far from home. It was in the town's rubbish heap that I again found my old toy robot. Curiously, our eyes met, then the robot waved a hand as if in greeting. I knew then that I had found my lost friend. I ran to it and hugged Rotom tight, talking on and on.

The robot's eyes lit up happily as I held it. I'm certain that, within it, Rotom was emitting lots of electricity. Somehow, I felt I could understand Rotom's thoughts better than before. Also, I realized that we would remain friends throughout our lives...

"The notebook ends with this page..."

+++

And this is his one and only trading card, and the biggest canon confirmation that he was indeed intended to be the mysterious author of Eighteen Pages Of How Much I Love To Hug My Friend Don’t tell me he doesn’t become INFINATELY more interesting with this knowledge!

Fuckin hell I would give my left foot to see an expanded plot upon this man’s secret good side seriously HOLY SHIT would you ever have imagined he cared about anyone, let alone THIS MUCH? Just sorry seriously i could talk for hours about this aaa dear god...

Oh and another minor transcript, you can get some dialogue from Rowan the first time you transform Rotom into one of its new forms. Its kinda interesting cos it gives some more Vague Potential Lore that inspires a cool headcanon that him and Charon might have known each other in the past? Cos he seems to know at least some details of that hidden journal...

"A Pokémon that slips into electric appliances, you say... Hmm... That is somewhat off from what I've heard about it. Hmm... This is what I've heard. Long ago, there was a Pokémon that merged with a toy robot. Should that Pokémon be recognized as a new species or not... Debates over the issue were about to start when they were rendered moot. The very topic of discussion--the Pokémon-infused robot--disappeared..."

Also that leads into another possible less-heartwarming interpretation of the whole thing that is actually EQUALLY interesting and ALSO makes Charon way more deep as a character! The idea that maybe this heartwarming thing is completely in the past, and nowadays he actually is 100% a horrible prick. Cos I mean, the one rotom you can find in the game is in that mysterious abandoned fancy old house, which is pretty heavily implied to be the notebook-writer’s childhood home where they met it. You can find a fragmented extra notebook page which seems to be the day before the start of the entries you can read in Charon’s lab. It says "Som...hing so pecu...r shou... make off ...ith the mot..." , which was confirmed to be "Something so peculiar should make off with the motor..." aaaaaallll these years later in an episode of Pokemon Generations. So there’s the interpretation that maybe this rotom you can catch is the same one described in the journal, which makes you wonder why its all alone here if Charon supposedly cared about his friend so much. Perhaps he really was a decent guy once, but when he grew up to be such an evil prick he abandoned his pokemon? or maybe it saw what he became, and ran away? or maybe some other sort of mysterious thing happened to cause them to become separated? There’s so many potential interpretations of this whole thing, aaaa!! Why was such a tantalizing plot point wasted on a super hidden wifi!!!

But of course I like the version where trash gramp has one shred of redeemability in his soul and then hypothetically you could have a sidequest to reunite him with his tiny tangerine friend and convince him of the error of his ways and then EVERYONE CAN HUGS AGAIN

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

srsly its got the power to make me never stop thinking about this damn wifi event for all these fuckin years giv grandpa justice, dammit

#commander charon #edit cos i linked the wrong video #im sorry i talkd a forever again #i know ive blabbered this repetitive stuff in other posts but this is like a masterpost introduction for newbs to grandpa fandom i guess #plz join our fandom it is like three people #also i wanna see more cute gijinka designs for rotom seriously i never get sick of those #semi unrelated thought lol #i wanna find more rotom fanart in general i think ive reblogged it all lol #i can reccommend Ray from @daily-haunted-tv

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